


You Call Me Monster

by taessmile (prettyboykieren), writing_secrets



Category: Big Bang (Band), Block B, EXO (Band), SHINee, Super Junior, VIXX, f(x), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Save Me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-07 14:48:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 59,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7718983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettyboykieren/pseuds/taessmile, https://archiveofourown.org/users/writing_secrets/pseuds/writing_secrets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Listen my dudes, this started as a joke. And now... we deliver this to you</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. human greed is endless

When it’s first found out that there are supernatural beings living alongside humans, people panic. There’s great mistrust among the humans and beings because they’re so different. Supernatural creatures were outed from society, fired from their normal jobs and forced to move to separate communities away from the rest of the population. They try their best to get along with the humans, never wanting to harm them, and follow along with the new regulations for the most part. Then the regulations got worse, and the communities divided. There were those that joined with the government and its task force, and there were the ones who formed the resistance. The Resistance focused on bringing equal treatment to all kinds of supernatural beings, and if it couldn’t accomplish that, making their own cities separate from the humans. The government didn’t take it well, deciding that all supernatural creatures needed to be controlled so they wouldn’t become a threat to the human population. Riots ensued and the Resistance was forced underground. The fae never liked following human rules. So it only made sense for them to join the resistance. Most of them simply stayed in their own realm, but a few higher up left to join the cause. Taemin and Taehyung were two such fae. Taemin had had the idea to join with them, more because he would be able to cause more trouble that way than if he would’ve stayed in the realm and Taehyung had followed him. They soon became key parts of the Resistance because of their power and they had both started forming relationships with creatures they had never dealt with before.

The resistance is a melting pot for the different beings, all feeling the same anger towards the government's attempt at control. If you can name a supernatural being they probably have at least one within their ranks. They’re powerful enough, but the government was really good about persuading those that were borderline to join their side. That made it difficult to ever get an absolute victory. Besides, they didn’t want a _war_ , they just want the same rights as any human would be allowed. But change never happened without a struggle.

 

“Your kind aren’t served here,” the bouncer says sternly, glaring up at Hakyeon.

He scowls, turning to Taekwoon with a disappointed slump to his shoulders. This is the third bar that they’ve been denied access to that night based on the results of an authorization scan. Taekwoon snarls and leads Hakyeon away from the bar. He knows where he could find the underground bars that had survived the raids, but he hates watching Hakyeon being treated like a second class citizen. He laces their fingers together in the attempt to cheer him up and leads him down the street.

“I’m fine babe,” Hakyeon soothes, rubbing a thumb across Taekwoon’s knuckles, ignoring the way the bouncers words sink under his skin. He tries to erase the way that the bouncer looked at him, like he’s shit under his boot, from his memory. He tries his best to ignore the way he _feels_ like a monster, just for existing.

Taekwoon’s scowl deepens. “I know. But they shouldn’t treat us like that. We’re people too.”

“Nah. You’re fucking monstrosities. You shouldn’t even _exist._ ” A group of about ten humans seems to melt out of the shadows, surrounding the two vampires with practised ease.

Taekwoon laughs and it’s a terrifying sound that seems to have some of the humans reconsidering their choice. He should’ve known there would be someone who would want to rough them up. He should’ve been paying more attention and now Hakyeon could get hurt because of him. Three of the ten surge forward grabbing onto Hakyeon while their leader continues to hurl taunts at Taekwoon. As soon as their hands part Taekwoon snarls.

“We can’t hurt them!” Hakyeon reminds him, even as his arms are being held back, two humans to each arm.

Taekwoon just barely pulls back as he tosses one of the humans into another of their group. He’s really trying to not hurt them, but if they keep pushing their luck one of them could end up with a broken femur. There’s a small gasp and Taekwoon’s gaze zeroes in on where Hakyeon is slumped on the floor with a human and a taser standing over him. In the blink of an eye Taekwoon has the taser in his own hand and has electrocuted the closest three humans.

“I wonder how much voltage your bodies can take,” he murmurs.

“Taekwoon, no.” Hakyeon groans, forcing his body upright.

Two figures run forward, illuminated by the glowing orbs hovering in their hand. “Back up,” they snap at the humans, each holding a long hunting knife in the other hand.

Hakyeon gets to his feet, licking his lips as his eyes gleam metallic in the dim light. “Getting tazed really takes it out of you. I could go for a snack right now,” He croons, looking at the men slowly backing away.

“That one tased you. I’ll hold him down,” Taekwoon murmurs, moving forward slowly looking exactly like the predator he is.

The humans run and Taekwoon looks sideways at Hakyeon for the cue on whether or not to pursue them.

“Let them go,” Hakyeon sighs.

Taekwoon wraps his arms around Hakyeon as he slumps into the taller vampire. Taekwoon side eyes the two that had come to their assistance, sensing that they were witches.

“What do you want?” he says.

“You looked like you could use some help,” the one with long blonde hair says. “I’m Jung Soo.”

“We could’ve handled it,” Taekwoon snaps.

“Doesn’t mean you have to handle it alone,” the blue haired one says.

“I’m Hakyeon, this is Taekwoon,” Hakyeon introduces them.

“Sun Young. What do you say we stick together?” she says.

 

In the grand scheme of things being a warlock isn’t so bad, Hoseok thinks as he pockets a wad of cash. Sure he wasn’t treated the best but humans couldn’t seem to stop coming to magic to solve their problems. Cursing that nasty cheater ex, hexing that cranky boss, blessing that lottery ticket. It was all the same. Quick and easy cash. Even as they pay for the magical remedy to whatever pitiful problem in their comfy human lives they had, far too often they look down on Hoseok, trying to cheat him out of making a living the only way he knew how.

Hoseok is tired of it, if he was being honest. Tired of slinking around in the shadows like he had something to hide, tired of having to dodge the government’s teams of idiots, tired of feeling like an outsider in his own town. He probably would have just swallowed his anger and distaste and kept doing what he was doing if he hadn’t run into Hakyeon and Jung Soo.

Usually Hoseok is pretty good about watching his own back. It’s not easy to get the drop on him and he takes pride in that fact. But when he’s outnumbered three to one and all three of his enemies are holding switchblades or tasers things get a little more dicey. Hoseok can handle up to two people without a problem but a third makes everything more difficult. There’s too much to keep track of and even if he’s not technically human Hoseok is far from infallible. Hoseok was about to make a run for it when two supernaturals join him, seeming to melt from the shadows. The sudden appearance of backup has the humans reconsidering and walking away.

“Thanks,” Hoseok says, quickly deeming the pair not a threat.

“We’d want someone to step in for us,” The man, a vampire Hoseok notes, says.

The woman is carefully sizing him and then she turns to the man, “He’s a fighter.”

“My name is Hakyeon. That’s Jung Soo. We’re part of a small group of people looking to… let’s say make things very difficult for the government. If you want, you could be a part of it.” The words are carefully picked, revealing nothing that could be used against them if Hoseok decides not to join.

It’s not much of a choice in Hoseok’s opinion. He could stay here barely scraping by or he could _do_ something about it. He nods, “Okay. I’ve got nothing to lose.”

 

Running for his life is not really how Namjoon wanted to start his day. But government officials very rarely take his feelings into consideration these days. Maybe he had set fire to his old work building to show his distaste at being fired simply for being a werewolf. But that was besides the point. A official looking man with his knuckles oddly covered in blood rounds the corner and Namjoon acts on instinct, punching the man in the jaw and dropping him. Gotta run, gotta hide. That’s the goal.

Another wolf stumbles around the corner and latches onto Namjoon’s arm. “You saved me!”

“Fuck off. I saved myself. You just happened to benefit from it.” Namjoon snaps, running past the wolf. The stranger falls into step beside him.

“My name is Jiho.”

“I honestly don’t care.” Namjoon growls, taking a sharp left. He almost tackles a silver haired vampire, but stops himself just in time, careening to a halt and taking in the warlock companion next to him. He’s covered in tattoos and grinning from ear to ear.

“You said you wanted help N. How about it?” He offers, sizing up the two wolves.

“I think they’re perfect! I’ve always wanted to be friends with a wolf,” N says.

Namjoon raises a brow slowly. “Sorry but um-”

“I don’t want to be friends with someone like you.” Jiho snaps and Namjoon sighs heavily.

“God, why don’t you go back to being beaten up in that alley, because unlike you - I don’t want to die.” Namjoon growls, shoving Jiho away from him

N smiles widely, “I think you’ll fit in nicely here.”

He links arms with Namjoon and begins pulling him along.

“We’re starting a sort of rebellion, and we need more members. Right now there aren’t a whole lot of us so you’ll be useful. You’re smart, right?” N asks.

“I mean I like to think I’m smart but I also set a building on fire out of spite so maybe not so much? But I’m definitely smarter than dipshit over here.” Namjoon grumbles.

“You two are definitely gonna get along,” the tattooed warlock says.

 

Yoongi knows that he’s being stupid. Wandering around late at night, drunk off his ass, is a pretty dumb thing today when his kind are hunted for sport. But what can he say. He had a rough day. His coven was decimated and he’d only been saved because he’d been away hunting. So yeah. He’s drunk. Wait. What is he doing again. Time to sit down and maybe puke into the gutter. Distantly he can hear the sound of shouting and running and then he is being pulled to his feet and onto someone’s back. He’s drunk yes, but not that drunk.

“What the fuck,” Yoongi slurs.

“I was being shot at, now we’re both being shot at. Can you run on your own?” the man asks.

“Don’t be stupid. Of course I can.” Yoongi snaps.

“Great,” He slides off of the man’s back until only one of his arms is looped around the stranger’s neck. “I’m Yoo Kwan. What’s your name?”

“Y-”

“Duck,” his head is forcefully pushed down and Yoongi growls softly.

“Yoongi.” the stake thumps into the wall.

“Well, Yoongi, you looked like you were having a rough day and I’d have hated to see it end with a stake. Unless of course that’s what you want. Although I’d feel a bit guilty about that for a few decades.”

“Stop talking,” Yoongi grunts, shoving the other man down a barely visible alley. “We’ll never lose them like this.”

“We need to find Luna. She’s a witch. She’ll help us.”

Yoongi bites back a bitter retort and jumps over a box. “Let me go. It’ll be faster.”

“Whatever you say,” Yoo Kwan sings, letting Yoongi go.

Yoongi stumbles slightly but rights himself quickly. So much for being drunk and wallowing. Adrenaline had sobered him up far too quickly.

“I think Luna hangs out downtown. But not too far downtown. Sometimes she’s near these two apartments but I don’t really know if she’ll be there now,” Yoo Kwan says, vaulting over a fence and turning back to look at Yoongi expectantly.

Yoongi lets out an annoyed huff and he drops down next to him, “You ever been told you’re too chipper. Or really fucking annoying.”

“My coven used to tell me that, before they were all brutally murdered by the government at least,” Yoo Kwan smiles widely. “Should we find Luna?”

“Welcome to the club,” Yoongi mutters, following Yoo Kwan through a narrow alley.

A tall thin man covered in tattoos seems to materialize in front of them, next to a short blue hair woman and Yoongi is ready to bowl through them and keep on running until Yoo Kwan beams and says, “Luna! And friend?”

“Hobi.” The man says softly, looking over his shoulder. “We should move quickly.”

“Right.” Luna says, “Yes or no. Join the resistance and make the government wish they’d never started with this discrimination bullshit.”

“Yes,” Yoo Kwan answers immediately.

“I guess.” Yoongi shrugs. Anything to get away from this shitty situation.

 

A meeting is being held when the intruders come. It’s the scent of flowers, then children laughing, then suddenly the meeting room looks an awful lot like an open field instead of an office. No one can seem to remember how they got there or what they had been talking about. A purple haired boy comes flying into the center of the room and lightly lands on the middle of the table with a huge smile.

“Taeminnie look! It’s just like you said it would be!” he says.

Another purple haired boy, of a darker shade than the others, rolls his eyes as he comes into the room, just barely hovering above the ground as if he didn’t want to touch it.

“Of course. Have I ever been wrong?” he says.

“Well…”

“Shut up.”

They both look around the room as smaller lights flicker and fly around. The lights seem to flock to the one on the table and steer clear of the other one.

“Is this your place?” the one who isn’t on the table asks Jung Soo and she swears she can see shadows swirling around him.

“Who are you?” she demands.

“ _Who_ am I? I am a weaver of nightmares and shadows, mischief incarnate, born unto the faery realm in order to rule it alongside my brother. _Who_ are you exactly Miss Jung Soo?”

The witch sputters at the stranger knowing her name. A blonde haired man peeks out from behind the two purple haired fae and nods at Jung Soo.

“Pleased to meet you. We came here understanding that you were forming a rebel alliance against the government here and they wanted to join in and help you. The one on the table is Taehyung and the other is Taemin, both are fae princes destined to take over the realms. I am Ji Young and the other blonde is Jinki. The brunette over there is Taeil-”

“And the other names are inconsequential because they will be going back home now that they’ve seen the human realm, just like they agreed to.” Taehyung says, cutting off the blonde.

They can hear the tittering coming from the lights that almost seem to be arguing against him.

“Come on, go home.” Taehyung says, facing the cloud of hovering lights.

Taemin looks over at the cloud with a dark expression from where his brother can’t see him and the smaller faeries hustle to go back to the fae realm. Taemin nods at his brother’s satisfied expression and they turn their attention back to the others.

“Now, I believe that there was a meeting going on?” Taemin asks, taking a seat as the flower field fades back into the office room.

“How did you get past the wards?” Sun Young demands.

“Wards? What wards?” Taehyung asks.

“You mean those little things? We fixed those, actually made them better. Next.” Taemin says, lacing his fingers behind his head.

Taehyung scans the room, plopping down next to an unimpressed Yoongi and propping his face up in his hands, grinning. “Before we interrupted I heard talk of rebellion and mischief making,” his eyes flashed golden, “And we do love mischief, don’t we Taeminnie?”

“Of course Tae tae,” Taemin purrs.

“So, we, the fae, are _generously_ offering our services. And by that I mean that we’ll be basically taking over.” Taehyung sings.

“Whether you like it or not. Unless, of course, you think you can stop us?” Taemin says, eyes flashing silver at the thought of a challenge.

“By all means,” Hakyeon says placatingly, “We welcome your assistance,” his words are chosen carefully, unsure how best to talk to the fae princes.

Taekwoon looks over at him, then back to the fae and huffs before going back to his book.

“I like him,” Taemin says.

Taehyung giggles, leaning over Yoongi to look at the reports he has in his hands. He whistles, “We are going to have our work cut out for us. We need recruits, badly.”

“I’m sure we can find some. There should be plenty out there. Should I start a search?” Ji Young asks.

Taehyung nods thoughtfully, shifting to sit on Yoongi’s lap. Yoongi stiffens comically, closing his eyes and saying a brief prayer to whatever deity was listening as Ji Young leaves the room.

“We also need to work on getting supplies. Weapons, food, other bases,” Taehyung lists, somehow still radiating sunshine even as he’s so serious.

Taemin shifts onto Namjoon’s lap in order to reach more papers and somehow moves all the way over until he’s wedged in between Taekwoon and Hakyeon, shifting until he’s comfortable.

“That won’t be a problem. Have any of you ever considered robbery?” Taemin asks.

“Oooh, you’re good at that Taemin. How many times did you steal dad’s paperwork this week?”

“I lost count around thirty.”

“It was sixty two last time I counted,” Jinki mutters from his position in an unoccupied seat as he twirls a pen in his fingers.

Taehyung nods again, “I’ll leave that to you then.” He chews his bottom lip for a moment before adding, “We also need intelligence. The information they have on the PCU is unreliable at best. Winning a war is all about what you know.”

“I’ll work on that. Namjoon was it? You too.” Taemin says.

“Is this how faery meetings normally work?” Hoseok asks.

“No,” Taehyung grins, “We’re usually far more drunk.”

“Flighty little shits aren’t you?” says Jiho.

Taehyung stiffens, eyes flickering to Taemin, “Excuse me?” his voice lilts in a deceivingly soft manner.

Taemin smiles far too sharply for it to be anywhere near human and flicks his wrist, sending Jiho through the wall and crashing into who knows what else. “Any other rude commentaries?” he asks.

“We’ll fix the wall,” Taeil promises, wrapping himself in a blanket that he seems to have pulled from nowhere.

Taehyung looks unimpressed, “Maybe we’ll make _him_ fix it. It was after all his fault,” he motions vaguely in the direction Jiho went flying.

Taekwoon stifles a laugh and Hakyeon elbows him. Taehyung turns to wink at Taekwoon, grinning from ear to ear. _Is this how you make friends with other species?_ He asks Taemin absently.

_I suppose it is. I like these guys. Well, most of them._

_I agree. This is going to be so much fun. I’m glad you talked me into this._

_I told you that it would be enjoyable. Oh, and I think the vampire that you are sitting on has taken a liking to you._

_Has he?_ Taehyung looks down and smiles quickly at Yoongi, who quickly schools his slightly awed and impressed expression into one of disinterest and boredom.

 _He has._ Taemin flashes a smile, then returns to plotting his next move.

 

Kibum liked fashion labels. It was one of his favorite things that the humans had invented. What made it even better was when he could get brand labels for free. After the government started enforcing more rules, he had moved into hiding like many of the other supernaturals. He hides out in the red light district, like many of the other incubi and succubi, and lives a nice easy life. The humans that visit him always bring gifts, and he also gets to live off of their energy. It’s a win win for him, at least until the government starts their raids in the district. Kibum is better at hiding than most of the others because he’s one of the strongest incubi on this side of the globe, not to brag or anything. Every time there’s a raid he hides himself in the shadows, along with his items. It’s getting boring, and Kibum has really started to hate the government. Because of their increased checks and regulations, the red light district wasn’t getting as much business as it normally did which was really starting to tick him off. So instead of making money in a somewhat legal way, he decides to just rob the stores he wants things from. If the government didn’t want criminals, maybe they should lighten up. Kibum snorts as he thinks of that. Yeah right. The day the government stopped butting its way into people’s lives was the day he would eat his prada bag.

He sorts through the different clothing in the latest shop he’s broken into. The security was a joke, the owners probably thought that since they were in the rich human part of town they were safe. Wrong. He had taken out the security alarms and cameras without a problem and now he was free to rummage around and find the things he liked. If any humans came by, they would be no problem to charm. Other supernaturals could pose a problem, but he wasn’t too worried about handling himself.

“I like that shirt on you,” someone says from behind him.

He spins around to find a slim blonde man smiling at him.

“Who are you?” Kibum demands.

“I don’t want trouble. My name is Onew, who are you?” the man says.

“Key,” Kibum says.

The man looks around, “This seems like an odd place to rob. Why here?”

“I like the clothing. Obviously you aren’t human so what are you?”

Kibum really hoped he wasn’t a high class demon, those guys were trouble.

“I am one of the fae. And you are?”

Oh gods. So it was worse than a demon. He really hoped that it was Seelie, they were marginally nicer. Plus, the Unseelie rarely left their court. Or so he prayed.

“An incubus.”

“I thought so, you’re definitely pretty enough.”

Kibum looks at him incredulously.

“So, I have an offer to make you.” Onew says.

“What is it?” Kibum asks.

“We were wondering if you wanted to join the resistance.”

“Why would I do that?”

“For a family, protection, safety.”

“What makes you guys different from the government?”

“We just want to live our lives. Honestly, I’m just here because the princes drug me here.”

“That isn’t exactly comforting.”

“But it is the truth. We would like to have you on our side because we think you could help us make a difference.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Perfect. Oh, and a government team is about to make a sweep on this street. There’s ten minutes before they’re here.”

“Thanks for the heads up.”

 

Kibum ends up finding Onew again as the fae passes through the red light district. Onew smiles at him as he passes, and Kibum stops him.

“Why are you here?” he demands.

“I came to check in on you,” Onew smiles.

“Why?”

“We are still waiting on your answer.”

“Oh.”

Kibum looks back to where his small pile of possessions sits in his room.

“I’ll come with you, let me pack my things,” Kibum says.

Onew trails him into the room and waits expectantly.

“Just to be clear I’m only going to be there for a little while, just to test it out.” Kibum says.

“Of course.” Onew says.

Kibum has his first experience of teleporting as he clutches onto Onew in sheer terror. He doesn’t like it at all. He prefers shadow travel, or dream travel, or walking. Hell, even running. Anything other than teleporting. Onew laughs at his discomfort, damn these fae, and he’s shown into the main room of the resistance facility where a bunch of other supernaturals are hanging out. It was actually quite cozy, maybe he could get used to it after all.

 


	2. yeah open the doors of hell

The kids are all gathered around the circle, candles providing the only source of light in the room.

“Are you sure this will work Jaehwan?” one of them, Myungsook, asks.

“Yeah. We did everything right,” Jaehwan says.

The five friends look around at each other and seem to brace themselves. They had been working on this for weeks now and they were finally ready to summon a demon to serve them. They were human but had been trying to train themselves in the craft, unwilling to believe that you had to just be born with magic inside you despite the fact that none of them could do anything remotely magical. They were hoping that summoning the demon could help change that, maybe even give them the powers that they wanted all along. Jaehwan takes a deep breath, then slices open his palm and completes the ritual’s chant.

Wind picks up around them and dark mist begins to swirl inside the pentagram they have drawn on the floor. Electricity crackles around them and the candles all go out, plunging them into darkness. They hear a dark laugh that sends chills down all of their spines, then the candles all relight themselves. Inside the center of the circle there’s a shirtless, tanned man who looks human. He’s wearing pristine white pants and tattoos in an unknown language trail up his chest and down his arms. 

“Hello,” he purrs.

Jaehwan can see that Myungsook and Junghye are staring at the demon in awe. The demon holds out his hand and beckons to the two girls who seem to unconsciously step forward.

“Danyong! Hyeil! Don’t let them enter the circle!” Jaehwan commands.

They hurry to stop the girls from crossing the line.

“Oh? It seems that you know a thing or two,” the demon says.

He winks at the girls and they blush. The demon stretches, which shows off his muscles even better.

“So, you called me here. What is it that you want?” he asks.

“We want powers,” Hyeil says.

“Powers? What kind of powers?”

The demon locks eyes with Jaehwan and he suddenly gets the feeling that he’s being inspected.

“Oh I see,” the demon says.

He turns to Junghye and holds out a hand. “Come here, darling.”

Junghye steps forward, and before anyone can catch her she steps across the circle and into the demon’s arms. She sighs as she relaxes into the demon’s embrace and the demon laughs. The light goes out again and Jaehwan gets a flash of fear. When the lights come back on, his friends are all lying on the floor in awkward positions and he can’t see the demon anywhere. Arms wrap around him and lock his head in place.

“So, you were willing to sacrifice your own friends to get what you want,” the demon purrs.

“What are you talking about?” Jaehwan demands.

“You’re tired of being ignored, tired of being pushed aside. You just want attention of people, of girls. That’s why you called me, isn’t it? You wanted to be able to get the attention of anyone you wanted. Well, you got the right demon for that.”

The demon smiles as he spins Jaehwan around to face him.

“Who are you?” Jaehwan asks.

“You brought me here from the second ring of hell, you should know me. I am Jonghyun, a demon of lust. And I’ll help you, for a price.” Jonghyun says.

 

The boy agrees to the deal, and Jonghyun makes him irresistible to any human. The boy goes out to use his newly gained power and Jonghyun knows it’s only a matter of time before he gets the boy’s soul. He smiles as he wanders out onto the street. It had been forever since he had been on the mortal plane and he was dying to know what the humans had been up to. The boy’s friends had made a nice light snack, but he was wondering just how many souls he could collect while he was here.

 

An alert goes out from the underground society of witches the minute that they find out that a demon has been released. Amber pulls up a portal to contact some of her friends that she has and learns that a group of kids had been the ones responsible.

“This isn’t just any demon. It’s one of the higher class ones Amber. Be careful,” her friend warns before cutting the connection.

Amber sighs and starts loading up on her weapons. Silver and blessed knives, holy water, a couple of herbs she thinks could be useful. Damn these stupid humans. They persecuted supernaturals and then turn around and summon more of the worst kinds. If humans wondered why supernaturals were starting to return the hatred, they shouldn’t look any further than their own stupid actions. This demon would be tricky, higher class demons were nothing to be messed with. Yet, she was one of the only witches that were strong enough to take him on. She shrugs on a long coat, black like the rest of her outfit, then puts on a hat to complete the look. Not only would she be hunting the demon, she would also have to dodge the government and their harebrained teams of men.

The streets are cold and dark and she pulls her coat tighter to her body. If he was a demon of lust, the red light district would be the place to start. She briefly wonders if any of the supernaturals would still be there to help, or if the demon had flushed them out. The red light district is busy as always, but Amber can sense an underlying layer of fear through everyone she passes. She catches one of the lesser incubi that pass by her and drags him off the main street.

“Where is he?” she demands.

“W-who?” he says, eyes darting around.

“The demon. Where is he? I’m not going to ask again,”

“The lotus bar. He’s in the lotus bar, please,”

Amber pushes him aside and heads toward the bar. She had a demon trap, but not the power to hold him for long. She didn’t really know what she would do, but she would have to work fast. The bar is crowded by both humans and supernaturals, but it isn’t hard for her to spot the demon. He’s surrounded by men and women alike and has his hands tangled in a brunette man’s hair, seemingly engaged in a conversation with him. Amber moves slowly towards the demon, hoping that she can save the man from eternal damnation. The brunette’s eyes flicker to hers as the demon turns to the blonde girl on his other side, and the brunette smiles at her. 

She reaches the table and slides in next to one of the other girls. It was now or never. She slides the demon cube out of her pocket and in one smooth movement presses it against the demon’s arm. There’s a flash of magic and the humans around the demon scream and begin to run, spreading the panic to the other patrons of the bar. The demon hisses and his magic starts to fight against hers, weaker than normal because the demon cube also is trying to suck him into its dimension. The brunette next to the demon laughs, he’s the only one that’s still near them, and grabs onto Amber’s arm. She feels a surge of energy and the demon’s energy starts to buckle. Amber grabs onto the demon’s other arm, hoping to be able to corner his magic, and there’s a flash of light and then nothing. Amber opens her eyes to find the demon cube swirling with dark energy and the demon staring up at her in awe.

“You- you,” the demon says. 

Amber looks around in panic. She had no idea what had happened, or why the demon was no longer fighting against her.

“You bonded with him. Now you’re his keeper, congratulations,” the brunette smiles.

“Taemin what do you mean?” the demon demands, snapping out of his trance.

“Lovely to meet you Miss Amber, I’m glad that we’ve finally found someone to control Jonghyun,” Taemin says, eyes dark like the abyss.

“What?” Amber says.

Taemin winks at her and slides the demon cube towards her.

“Keep that. Maybe make a necklace out of it or something,” he says.

He ignores Jonghyun and keeps his attention focused on Amber and she gets the feeling that the center of his attention was a bad place to be. He takes out a deck of playing cards and shuffles them before flinging them into the air. They shimmer and come together to form a giant screen. A familiar face appears in the screen and Amber finds herself looking up at Jung Soo.

“Taemin? Amber? What’s going on?” Jung Soo asks.

“Jung Soo? Where are you? I haven’t seen you in forever,” Amber says.

“I’m, um, kind of part of the rebellion.”

“What?”

“She actually started it, come on take credit,” Taemin says.

Jung Soo rolls her eyes.

“So, will you join us?” Taemin asks, looking over at Amber.

“What if I don’t want to?” Jonghyun pipes up.

“If she wants to you have to follow,” Taemin says.

Amber hesitates. She really, really had no idea what was going on, how she had bonded to a demon, or how Taemin knew Jung Soo. However, if Jung Soo was a part of this Amber would be too. Jung Soo’s judgement was always good, and if she had started this rebellion then Amber would too. It would be better than living on the streets.

“Okay, I’ll join,” Amber says.

“Perfect,” Taemin smiles.

If the smile was supposed to be comforting, it wasn’t. It was like being a bunny with a tiger staring you down, terrifying and dangerous. Taemin grabs hold of both of them and throws them through the portal. Amber finds herself suddenly at the feet of Jung Soo and comes to the horrible realization that Taemin was a fae. Great.

 

Yoongi goes looking for Taehyung. It had been suspiciously quiet around the base, and he can’t find him in any of the rooms the fae normally frequent so Yoongi decides to try the bedroom the fae had claimed as their own. He pushes open the door and it’s like stepping into a whole new world. The room is huge and sunlight and moonlight are streaming in simultaneously from an unknown source. Yoongi finds himself relaxing as he looks at the vines that are crawling up the ceiling. There’s a staircase that he assumes leads off to beds, but most of the space is taken up by a random assortment of couches and a piano. He heads towards the white piano as tropical birds and small lights flit around the room. They buzz by his head as he goes further into the room. The further in he gets, the more the carpet beneath his feet looks and feels like grass and the walls start to look more like the trunks of trees. Smaller creatures dart around the corners of his vision while some of them purposefully try and trip him up. He kicks at a few of the small, ugly brown creatures and they dart out of the way laughing. He keeps his eyes focused on the piano, trying to remember why he came in here, but knowing that getting to the piano had been important at some point. He slides his hand over the smooth surface of the piano. Taehyung. He had come in here looking for him.

“Taehyung?” he asks.

The small lights that fly above him titter and mock his voice.

“Taehyung are you here?” he asks again.

Little blue like flames appear at the base of the piano and beckon to him. They look friendlier than the others and they bob up and down as they wave at him.

“Are you going to take me to Taehyung?” he asks.

The flames nod and wave him towards a path that leads through the forest. The minute his hand leaves the piano he can only focus on following them. They light the path and he walks along it in a daze. The flames keep prodding him forward, urging him to go faster along the path even as the forest grows oppressively dark around him. It opens up into a clearing and he hears the faint sound of a child’s laughter then the flames all suddenly disappear. He spins around in the suddenly unfamiliar area, unable to find the path.

“Shit,” he mutters, trying to clear the fog from his head.

He probably shouldn’t have followed them. Frost begins to creep into the clearing and a branch snaps behind him. He spins around, ready to fight whatever could come into the clearing. A dark shadow seems to condense and he watches in shock as Taemin steps into the clearing, looking even more otherworldly than usual. Shadows cling to his skin and his eyes are a gleaming metallic silver as he looks over at Yoongi. Girls with hollowed eyes cling to the cape that flows behind him, looking like they had just risen from the grave.

“Yoongi? What are you doing here?” Taemin asks.

“I was-uh-looking for-um-Taehyung,” Yoongi quietly admits, finding that the truth was pulled out of him.

“Will-o’-the-wisps, my king,” one of the girls rasps.

Taemin hisses in displeasure, “They should’ve known to leave this one alone.”

Taemin’s hands are icy, even by a vampire’s standards, as he grabs onto Yoongi and drags him down a path that seems to open itself for them. Wolves seem to move alongside them and shadows dart at the edge of Yoongi’s vision.

“Caileigh, I want them punished. Nothing severe, just a warning. Keep the hounds out of it,” Taemin says.

“Of course,” one of the girls says, leaving their side and disappearing into the forest.

Soon they’re back at the piano and Taemin glares at him.

“Next time stay by the piano or the couches. Or don’t come in here at all, unless you’re with Taehyung.” Taemin says, eyes raking over him to check for injury.

“Where was I?” Yoongi demands.

“You were Between. You weren’t quite in the fae realm or the human one, it’s lucky you stayed in the clearing. Taehyung would’ve been upset if you would’ve disappeared.” Taemin says.

One of the girls tugs on his cape to get his attention and Taemin looks over at her.

“Taehyung is on his way to get you. Stay put.” Taemin calls over his shoulder as he disappears back into the forest.

Taehyung appears, looking just as otherworldly as his brother. His eyes are golden and on his lilac colored hair is an intricate flower crown. Unlike his brother’s cloak of shadows, the light seems to shine from within Taehyung himself and the children following Taehyung look healthy and bright, if just a touch mischievous. 

“Yoongi? Why were you looking for me?” Taehyung asks, taking Yoongi’s hands in his. If Taemin’s hands were icy, Taehyung’s were warm. Warmer than the average human. 

Yoongi hesitates but the unconcealed affection in Taehyung’s eyes allows him to honestly say, “It was quiet and I missed you.” 

Taehyung beams at that, smile bright and box like. “I’m sorry the will o’ the wisps tried to lead you so astray. Taemin is taking care of them and I’ll make sure it won’t happen again.”

“How?” 

There’s a sharper glint in Taehyung’s eyes, “Make sure that this realm knows you’re mine, of course.” He says it like it’s the simplest thing in the world. “I’d placed a mark on you earlier but it wasn’t prominent enough apparently.” 

“Y-you marked me?” 

Taehyung hums. “I didn’t want you to get lost, but you almost did anyway,” he frowns. “I won’t mark you if you don’t want me to,” he adds at Yoongi’s conflicted expression. “But it would help keep you safe.” 

Another moment of hesitance and then Yoongi nods, surprising himself. It didn’t bother him and it gave him a quiet thrill that Taehyung wanted to make sure his realm knew that he was  _ his. _

Taehyung gives him another radiant smile, pulling him in for a soft kiss. When he pulls away he presses another kiss to Yoongi’s forehead. “There. All mine.” 

 

Hongbin never means to hurt anybody, but still the people around him get hurt. He doesn’t understand why or how really, just that his mother had called him a monster and his father had chased him away from his home. All because when he had fallen out of the tree, it had been his brother’s arm that had broken. He wanders the streets alone, turned away from every human place because he was “supernatural.” He doesn’t really understand it. He was human. Bad things just seemed to happen around him. He gets surrounded by a group of thugs and sighs.

“I just really wouldn’t do this if I was you,” Hongbin says.

He’s tired of watching people get hurt because of him. They charge forward anyway and one of them slams a piece of pipe into his side. He stumbles a bit and the one who had swung it coughs blood.

“I told you,” Hongbin says.

“What kind of freak are you?” one of the men demands.

“The kind of freak I’ve been looking for,” a new voice says. “Wait, shit, that came out wrong oh my god pretend I didn’t say that.”

A man with dark hair steps out of the shadows, rubbing his face with his hands.

“Note to self, get more than thirty minutes of sleep so you don’t act like an idiot,” he says to himself.

The men seems to size him up, and he doesn’t really look like that much of a threat, so they charge at him. He dances out of the way of their attacks easily, making his way towards Hongbin. 

“Hello. My name is Hyuk,” he says. He ducks as one of the thugs aims a pipe at his head and it slams into Hongbin instead, causing the man with the pipe to crumple under his own attack.

“You’re probably wondering why I’ve approached you today,” Hyuk continues, slapping something onto one of the passing men.

The man starts screaming as snakes come out of the paper stuck to him.

“And you’re also probably wondering who you are yourself,” Hyuk says.

He slaps another paper onto a different man with the same result, and pretty soon the thugs are running out of the alleyway.

“I’m a voodoo master. And I’m looking for a voodoo doll, which is you by the way. So what do you say? Do you want to come with me?” Hyuk says.

Hyuk thinks that he has everything under control. He thinks he can use voodoo well enough to protect them, but as they’re being surrounded in the alleyway by a bunch of humans Hyuk is forced to realize that he really doesn’t know what he’s doing. 

Hongbin swears and backs Hyuk into the corner. “Stay behind me and don’t do anything stupid.”

Hongbin shields Hyuk from the blows. “Fucking call for help or something. I can’t keep them back forever.” 

Hyuk begins to broadcast their need for help using anything magic he can think of.

“Can you just shut the fuck up? All of this screaming is giving me a headache,” a voice says from the shadows.

“What he means to say is we’re here to help,” another voice says.

Two slim men come out of the shadows and the humans begin to turn on them.

The one with purple hair laughs, low and taunting, “I’ll show you the wonders of my realm if you can touch me.”

The silver haired one kicks back into the air and begins floating. Hongbin starts to panic at the sight of the floating man.

“Honestly, this is what you freak out about?” Hyuk asks with a glance back at his new partner.

“It’s weird,” Hongbin says.

“I think you’re weird too,” the silver haired one says.

They stare at each other and the purple haired man starts fighting the humans.

“That’s Taehyung and I’m Taemin,” the man’s silver hair melts into a deep shade of black. “We’re here to offer you a position within the rebellion.”

 

Taekwoon takes one look at the scuffed up pair that the fae brothers bring in and turns to go into the kitchen. Taemin floats along above his head, watching him as he prepares a meal for their new recruits.

“I didn’t know you could cook,” Taemin says.

“Just because I don’t need to eat doesn’t mean I can’t cook,” Taekwoon says.

“Really? The you from four hundred years ago couldn’t cook worth a damn.”

“I learned. Practice makes perfect.”

 

Wonshik hisses in displeasure as they’re turned away from yet another hotel. The seer trails behind him, quietly shuffling his deck and sighing as he reads them.

“What is it this time?” Wonshik asks, turning back to his new acquaintance. 

“The cards say that we won’t find shelter tonight but they also say something’s coming?” Daesung says.

He spreads his hands and shrugs, not able to offer anything else. Wonshik grits his teeth.

“Okay, let’s find some sort of shelter then,” Wonshik says.

Sometimes he wishes that he had been born a human. Then at least he would be able to live a life without being hunted. However, he wasn’t. He was a shapeshifter, just like the rest of his family, and he was the only one of them left. If the government wanted him, he would have to be dead. He had found Daesung mostly by accident, the poor guy had been cornered by a group of human thugs that had then proceeded to beat him up simply because he could see what they could not. The violence had escalated and so Wonshik had stepped in and saved the guy. They had been traveling together ever since. 

They find a nice place under a bridge, Wonshik scaring off some other supernaturals just by approaching them. Daesung settles in next to him, close enough to share body heat since the night was cold. Wonshik listens as the area around them settles down for the night and lets his senses spread out to sense things that might pose a threat. He can’t sense anything so he lets himself relax just marginally. Daesung is already sleeping, trusting Wonshik to be able to keep him safe. 

The night is quiet and still, cold enough that it nips at Wonshik’s nose. So cold that he shouldn’t be smelling  _ flowers _ . He perks up, scanning the area intently and by the time his gaze has made a quick circuit there are two men standing over Daesung. His heart drops, even though he’s only known the other for a short amount of time he’d grown attached. 

“Leave him alone,” his senses tell him that the others are other supernaturals, one a vampire and the other he’s never encountered before. 

The taller of the two raises his hands, voice low and soothing, “We’re not here to hurt you. We have a proposition of sorts,” his purple hair makes him seem young and innocent but he’s nothing Wonshik has ever dealt with before and that makes him hesitant to drop his guard. 

The shorter vampire sighs deeply, “We’re offering you a place to stay for however long you like,” 

“What’s the catch?”

“We’re creating a rebellion. There are a lot of people who are fed up with sleeping under bridges. You could help.” 

Another purple haired man shows up in the blink of an eye and smiles down at him. His hair changes colors to match Wonshik’s light blue hair.

“Hello there, I’m Taemin,” the man introduces himself.

He crouches next to Wonshik and pokes at Daesung until the seer wakes up.

“Hey,” Wonshik protests weakly.

Everything in him was telling him he should be as far from this man as possible. Daesung blearily wakes up and blinks up at Taemin.

“They said you weren’t coming until tomorrow,” Daesung says, frowning down at his deck.

Taemin’s grin grows wide and he turns to look back at the purple haired man. “I like him,” he says.

The man laughs, “You like almost everyone,” 

“I do not!”

He scoffs before looking back to Wonshik, “I’m Taehyung, by the way, and that’s Yoongi,” he motions toward the vampire who seems bored by the other two men’s antics.

“Don’t mind him, he always looks angry unless he’s looking at Taehyung.”

Yoongi rolls his eyes but doesn’t bother to deny the statement. 

“So what do you say? Will you join us?” Taemin asks.

Wonshik hesitates briefly, but agrees when Daesung does. A couple of nights couldn’t hurt, right?

 

As it turns out, it isn’t just for a couple of nights. They end up staying easily for a week, Daesung fitting in with the other witches that are already there. Wonshik on the other hand, doesn’t really fit in with anyone. It’s one of the fae, Taemin, that goes out of his way to help him fit in for whatever reason. Taemin spends time with him and invents a game to play that involves them shifting their appearance into whatever they can think of. Taemin thinks it’s hilarious when Wonshik shifts into an exact replica of him, then Taemin shifts into a replica of Wonshik. They become close, and no one can really figure out how that happened. Even Taehyung doesn’t really know how they became so close in such a short time. Taemin might say that he liked people, but he never really thought of them as anything but playthings. Wonshik is different. Taemin actually  _ invites _ him to go with him to rob banks, making him the first one who isn’t a fae to go with them on a heist. Wonshik learns that Taemin is dramatic in front of any government official, just to play around with them, but otherwise he’s pretty quiet. Taehyung is the loud one, all the time, but he’s also more cheerful than his brother. 

Taemin and Wonshik go on heists together and they bring in a ton of money for the resistance. Taemin goes on most of them alone, it’s faster that way, but brings Wonshik along when there’s a particularly large amount he finds. Taemin targets the large banks that have been known to discriminate against supernaturals. Taemin starts to be called the “Phantom Thief” when he’s put on the top ten most wanted list by the Paranormal Control Unit most likely because of the way he manages to disappear before any of their units can come get him. Wonshik knows that he thinks of it as a game. He finds the small library that Taekwoon has in the base and uses it freely. Taekwoon doesn’t seem to mind, or if he does he hasn’t said anything to him yet. They also form a strange sort of friendship that only involves short, quiet sentences or just silence from the vampire in response to him and Wonshik is glad that he’s found this strange little family of his own.


	3. they can't hide this insanity

The large dining table is perfect for their meetings, and the leaders all sit around it so they can discuss their next moves. Taehyung makes sure to sit next to Yoongi, and Taemin sits between his brother and Namjoon. Hakyeon and Taekwoon sit across from them.

“We need to split up. Everyone take a different base so that we can gather more people,” Jung Soo says.

“Well if we’re going to do this, I think I have an idea,” Taemin says. “This will be the main base, obviously, but the others will need some guidance.”

“What are you thinking?” Sun Young asks.

“Base two can set up with you, Namjoon, and Hoseok. Base three will have the voodoo team as well as Amber and Jonghyun. Base four will have Wonshik and Jinki, as well as Daesung. Base five can have Taeil, Kibum, and Yoo Kwan. Then there’s a nice distribution of magic.” Taemin says.

“Wait what about me?” Jiho asks.

“Who wants to take him?” Taemin asks.

“Absolutely not,” Kibum says.

“No way in hell. I accidentally saved him once. I’m not being responsible for him ever again.” Namjoon says quietly. 

“No,” Amber says.

“Team four it is,” Taemin says.

Wonshik drops his head down onto the table and Daesung pats his back sympathetically. 

“Now that that’s taken care of, onto other business. We need to get someone into the PCU headquarters in order to gain information,” Hakyeon says. “Preferably one of the fae.” 

“Why one of the fae?” Jonghyun asks, almost petulantly. 

“Because demons need a handler,” Taekwoon says softly, almost lost in the way Jinki mutters “Because demons stink.” 

“It’s a valid question though,” Daesung points out. 

Ji Young runs a hand through his hair, “Fae have more magic than anyone else so it’s easier for them to adapt to changing circumstances.” 

“But you can’t lie.” Jiho grumbles. 

Taehyung fixes a glare at the wolf, “We can selectively tell the truth however.” 

“So the real question is which fae do we send,” Hakyeon brings the topic back into focus. 

Jinki rolls his eyes, “Well, I can’t go because I’m babysitting.” 

Conversation stops as the group carefully weighs their options. Taeil is small and easy to miss but he also has weaker magic, being a lower merfolk. Ji Young is vital to keeping the fae princes in line so that left either Taemin or Taehyung. 

“Taehyung that means you get to go. Because we both know you have more impulse control,” Taemin announces. 

Taehyung wrinkles his nose slightly, looking over apologetically at Yoongi before nodding. “We can’t have  _ you _ going in and blowing up a building for fun I guess,” he teases. 

 

They’ve lost three of their own by the time they make it to Earth. For being the Twelve of Prophecy they felt pretty pathetic, they couldn’t even manage to save their own planet from destruction. Wufan, Luhan, and Zitao had encouraged them all to their last breaths, giving them the strength they needed to make it to Earth and their sacrifice is the only thing that keeps the rest of them going when they reach the new land. It’s strange and unfamiliar, and they have no idea what they’re doing. Junmyun and Jongin step up as the leaders of their small group, attempting to blend in and find them enough food to survive.

It’s a struggle, but somehow they keep themselves alive, running from any sign of danger and hiding their powers from the humans they do encounter. Still, the government finds them. They aren’t sure how, but when men in suits surround them and hold Yixing hostage, none of them fight back. Instead, they’re forced to listen to the men as they explain the treaty that the government has with people like them. They’re offered jobs within the Paranormal Control Unit and are given a place to stay within the agency. They’re all hesitant at first, Minseok and Yixing being the most opposed, but when the food and shelter they’re provided isn’t revoked they slowly relax. 

They train with the agency and their powers grow stronger. Soon they’re trusted on missions to bring in the criminals that break the laws the government has laid out. Jongin can’t fathom why they would, from what he’s seen of the PCU they have a fairly intensive task force. One of the more troublesome criminals, only known as Phantom Thief, has started to rob more high profile banks and businesses. Jongin is sent in with Kyungsoo and Baekhyun to apprehend them. Combined, the PCU thinks they have the best shot of capturing him. The Seer from the PCU, Victoria, was fairly accurate but sometimes her predictions were off. She had told them that this large profile bank was the Phantom Thief’s next target and so they set up to wait for him. It was times like this that made Jongin miss Luhan even more, he would’ve been far more accurate than Victoria was, but he doesn’t bring it up. He couldn’t risk distracting anyone and putting them in danger. They were the last of his kin, and he didn’t want to lose anyone else.

Their plan was simple, Baekhyun would blind him then Kyungsoo would sink him into the earth and trap him. Jongin was there for backup in case things went wrong. After about an hour of waiting, they suddenly hear footsteps coming down the otherwise empty hall. From his hidden position, Baekhyun nods at them. Jongin gets a glimpse of a masked figure clad in black walking towards the vault before the room is filled with bright white light. Kyungsoo immediately moves into action and places his hands on the floor. 

They hear a deep laugh that sends chills up their spines and then there's silence. When the light recedes, the figure is gone. Baekhyun cusses as he stands and runs his hands through his hair. Kyungsoo is wide eyed and confused as he stares at the place where the earth had obviously swirled around someone’s legs. 

“Well I guess they don't call him Phantom Thief for nothing,” Jongin mutters. 

Baekhyun glares at him and Jongin flashes a smile. 

“I don't understand how he could've got away,” Baekhyun says. “Maybe he’s a ghost.”

“How the hell could a ghost rob a bank?” Kyungsoo snaps.

They're all startled by a sudden knock from the inside of the vault. It's such a subtle noise that Jongin almost thinks he's imagined it when it comes again. He nods to the others and they fall back on the backup plan. Jongin would grab whoever came out because he could move the quickest. 

Baekhyun opens the vault door and Jongin tackles the figure. Instead of hitting the floor like he expected, wiry arms wrap around him and hold him tight then he feels the familiar sensation of teleporting. There's suddenly blinding sunlight and the smell of flowers and Jongin lands on his back. The black clad figure stands over him. There's a black mask covering his mouth and nose and his dark eyes just barely peek out from underneath his black bangs. 

“Well hello there,” he says. 

“Hello?” Jongin says. 

He honestly has no idea how exactly he got here. All he knew was that he was alone with one of the most wanted criminals in the country. 

“So why were you and your friends waiting for me at the bank?” He asks. 

Jongin stays silent, trying to figure out a way to get out of there.

“You're one of the Twelve, right? Though I guess there's only nine of you now. What a shame,” the man says. 

“Who are you?” Jongin demands. 

The man’s eyes lift in a smile and he pulls his beanie further onto his head. 

“I'm known as the Phantom Thief, but you knew that already. I'm assuming you were sent to capture me by the PCU?” He asks, tapping the space just below Jongin’s collarbone. 

He doesn’t know how he got so close or why he isn’t freaked out but Jongin finds himself nodding along with him without really knowing why. He can’t move away. He doesn’t want to.

“Those idiots. Did they recruit you? Tell you about the laws they think they can hold over us?” The Phantom Thief asks. 

There’s a brief silence before he turns back and looks at Jongin with a laugh and Jongin gets the sense that he’s somehow made the criminal happy. 

“I hope we meet again soon,” he says. 

Then he's gone, leaving Jongin to wonder how exactly he was going to explain himself when he got home. 

 

If Jongin had expected a dressing down when he got home he was wrong. Instead of a superior waiting for him when he finally makes it into his room there’s a slight boy with a blinding smile. 

“Hi! I’m Taehyung,” he says almost shyly, waving. “I was assigned to your unit and was told to wait here for you or,” he looks down at a paper in his hand, “Junmyun? I’m here to pick up your report?”

Jongin raises a brow in appraisal. At first glance it’s hard to see anything special about the boy. His purple hair is tousled and messy and his smile is impish. “So are you… like human?” 

Taehyung’s eyes narrow slightly and Jongin gets the sense that that was the wrong question to ask.“Teleportation,” he says, eyes a little sharp. 

“Oh! So you’re like me. It’s nice to know that I can have someone to look up to.” Jongin smiles. 

Taehyung nods, eyes flitting over Jongin quickly as he speaks, “I hope I can -” he pauses, squinting slightly before shaking his head. “I’m sorry, can I get your report? I uh, need to get them filed.” 

“Oh yeah, of course,” Jongin says, hurriedly filling out the report and handing it over.

Taehyung nods and looks it over quickly and seems to stumble over his words as he says, “I appreciate it,” before rushing out the door. 

 

Taehyung sighs deeply and makes his way back to his room. As an “officer” he has the luxury of his own room. Which is nice because glamours are exhausting to maintain 24/7. Once the door is shut and firmly locked he lets the glamour over his eyes and ears drop. The air shimmers before him and he lets out a quiet, “Taeminnie?” 

“Yes? How’s the job? Are you having fun? Did you make friends?” 

Taehyung rolled his eyes, “It’s good. I’m in a good position to get intel and I found your little play toy. He’s cute and friendly, like a dog.” 

“Isn’t he great?” Taemin grins proudly at his twin, clasping his hands over his heart. 

“Sure. Awesome,” Taehyung mutters, “How’re things at Base?” 

“If you’re asking about Yoongi, he’s doing fine. A bit mopey but fine.” 

Taehyung laughs, “I mean I was going to ask about him but I was more concerned with if Base has gotten my preliminary reports.” 

Taemin just waves his hand dismissively, “Sure you were Taetae.” 

There’s a knock on the door and Taehyung instantly throws his glamours back up, ending the call with a feral grin. He opens the door to Junmyun standing there, paperwork in hand. 

“I was told to report to a Taehyung?” 

“That’s me,” Taehyung grins, taking the papers and giving them a brief once over before nodding. “I appreciate it.” 

Junmyun nods, “I look forward to working with you,” he says politely before turning and walking away. 

_ Prick _ Taemin mutters in his head.

Taehyung watches after him for a moment before turning back and closing his door once more. He sets the papers down and stares where the message portal had been for a moment before glamouring completely and setting out to gather more information. It’s always fun watching people’s gaze slide right past him as he walks down the hall. He smiles as he slides into an important looking office. Rustling through papers and cabinets, Taehyung listens carefully for the sound of anyone approaching. It’s quiet for about three minutes before Taehyung presses himself up against a wall, holding his breath as a high ranking vampire by the alias of Jin walks into the room. The vampire pauses as if he senses something amiss before setting his files down on the desk and walking back out. Taehyung grins to himself, flipping open the file Jin had left and skimming it quickly. 

The file is about a few resistance cells that have been located and Taehyung’s grin fades as he looks over the documents. The PCU is gaining headway on the resistance’s primary location and the operations were scheduled to be put into place tomorrow. There’s not even time to warn the people at those locations, only the higher ups. Taehyung swallows and shuts the file, hoping that he’s not part of the task team to help flush the resistance out of hiding tomorrow. 

Taehyung’s door shutting behind him clicks softly and he lets his glamour drop once more, instantly pulling up the portal to Taekwoon. “Leo,” he half sings, attempting to gain the leader’s attention. The air shimmers for a bit before a cranky looking Taekwoon appears in frame. He scowls at Taehyung in silence.

Taehyung grins, “I got info if you wanna hear about it,” he offers. 

Hakyeon pops into frame, gently moving Taekwoon out of the way. “What is it?” he asks.

Taehyung wastes no time, “There are gonna be some strikes against the outer bases tomorrow late evening. I didn’t get anything too particular regarding the attack strategies, but if you can get people out or warn them so they’re ready…” He trails off.  

“We’ll take care of it,” Hakyeon smiles gently, “Good job.”

Taehyung nods, beaming and waving at Taekwoon as he cuts the connection. 

 

Wonshik was used to having to wander around the base with noise cancelling headphones. After all, what had happened with Daesung had taught them all a lesson that they wouldn’t forget. It had been an accident, Jinki had made it perfectly clear that they should never go into the soundproof room when the lights were on, but Daesung had rushed in there after getting a prediction of some sort that involved one of the fae princes. He had ignored all of the barriers and had barged in mid-song while Jinki hadn’t been holding back. It had practically melted the poor kid’s mind before Jinki had noticed him in there and stopped and the prediction had been lost. The healers did all they could, but Daesung was never the same. It was hard enough to hold a conversation with him before and now it was nearly impossible. 

So Wonshik wore the headphones. Young Bae and Jiho normally stayed in the training rooms, thank god for that, building their muscles and generally revelling in themselves. Wonshik made a point to ignore Minhyuk because that guy was always asking to get the shit kicked out of him. Mostly, he spent a lot of his time reading when Taemin wasn’t calling him. Daesung would hang around on the couch beside Wonshik whenever the poor kid wasn’t trailing after Jinki. Wonshik had asked Taemin about it and Taemin had laughed it off, calling Daesung a “peculiar pet of Jinki’s.” Something about it had felt wrong, like it wasn’t the full truth but that’s just how he was. The fae and their magic was something Wonshik never wanted to be on the receiving end of. He had done a lot of reading about the fae, taking everything with a grain of salt because they were slippery little bastards, and pieced together certain truths that he could gain from the books he had on hand. So altogether, not much. 

Taemin shows up around the same the gunfire starts, looking like he was in a particularly bad mood if the shadows swirling around him were any indication, and he grabs Wonshik and Daesung and teleports them to base one with no warning.

“What’s going on?” Wonshik asks.

“Emergency evacuation,” Daesung murmurs, clutching his cards.

Wonshik could tell that he was nervous being in a new place and awkwardly pats him on the shoulder, trying to comfort him. Taemin shows up with the rest of the members and grumbles as he goes back for what little of their stuff he could grab. The minute Daesung spots Jinki, his face lights up and he goes over to where the fae is conversing with Jung Soo. Jinki absently rubs his head as he stands next to him. The poor kid. Wonshik takes up a new place on one of the couches in the base, hoping that it’ll be quiet for at least a little while.

 

Taemin wanders idly down the halls of the base, bored out of his mind. It was no fun without Taehyung here and no one really wanted to interact with him since he was in a bad mood because he had had to pull in members from their fourth base to the main one while the base was under fire. 

“I'm going to go rob another bank,” Taemin announces to no one in particular. 

“Really?” Wonshik asks from his position on the couch. 

“Yes really. I'm bored,”

“You really can't think of anything else to do?”

“No,”

Taemin shrugs and disappears with a snap of his fingers. 

 

The alert goes out immediately after the first cameras get a glimpse of the now familiar masked figure. The response team, led by Taehyung, is sent out to apprehend him. It's composed of Junmyun, Jongin, Minseok, and Taehyung because of their skill set. They show up as the Phantom Thief is finishing up with the bag he's been stuffing things into. 

“Oh, you're finally here. I was wondering how long it would take a team to show up,” the man says, his voice just barely muffled by his mask. 

His dark hair looks ruffled, and this time he wasn't wearing his beanie leaving his abnormally pointy ears out on display. Jongin stares at him blankly as he winks at him. 

“Look at you guys. So cute,” he says. 

Junmyun seems to come to the realization that none of them have made a move to apprehend the criminal and spurs into motion. The Phantom Thief spins out of the way of the attack smoothly and trips Junmyun as he passes by. 

“Come on now, offer a challenge,” he teases as he watches Junmyun sprawl on the floor.

Taehyung can’t help but grin, darting forward to tackle his brother. It wasn’t ever hard to catch Taemin if Taehyung really tried, though that could just be because Taemin always let him win when they play fought. Sensing his brother’s thought process Taemin spins just out of reach, laughing as Taehyung only comes away with the mask. 

“Someone here knows how to have some fun,” he grins winking. 

Taehyung narrows his eyes, trying to remember to act  _ human _ . It wouldn’t do for him to blow his cover on his first mission. 

“Suho and Xiumin I need you to try and pin him down. Drown him and then lock him into place with the water.” Taehyung knows full well that that won’t do shit but he has to at least put forth some sort of effort. 

“How about you let that other one there pin me down instead,” Taemin purrs, eyes raking over Jongin’s frame.

Taehyung rolls his eyes, biting back the scathing comment on his tongue. “Kai, you and I are going to try to get a hold of him so if he does teleport we can follow him.” 

The team nods, immediately jumping into action and Taehyung ignores the impish urge to go mess with everyone in the room, like Taemin would, and instead focuses on attempting to stumble just enough to pass as human as he lunges once again at Taemin. The temperature in the room drops as Minseok and Junmyun get to work. 

“Oh nooo I’m drowninggggg,” says the dramatic little fuck.

_ Taemin I swear when I get out of this I’m wrecking your ass, _ Taehyung scowls. 

_ I think I’d rather have Kai wreck my ass but thanks for the offer brother. _

_ Of course you would. _

Taehyung takes a brief moment to squint at Taemin even as he darts forward again, this time locking his arms around his brother’s waist and knocking him into Jongin. 

_ Ladies and Gentlemen hang onto your hats because here comes the famous world tour in under six seconds! _

_ Taeminnie, I will end you.  _ The warning doesn’t go unheeded though, Taehyung tightens his grip on both Taemin and Jongin. 

Taehyung hears Taemin’s laughter just before they spin into motion. It’s dizzying to visit all the countries of the world in the short time span, and Taemin makes sure to hold onto Kai.

_ I think he’s gonna be sick. _

_ If I was human I would be too, _ Taehyung thinks sourly, pinching his brothers side. 

_ Technically he falls under the classification of alien because he isn’t from Earth, but point taken. He’s your problem now, officer. _

At this particular moment Taehyung wishes he was an only child, as they finally come to a stop in the field that Taemin had fled to last time. Taemin untangles himself from his brother and Kai before grinning widely and disappearing again.

_ You little fucker. You could have stayed and talked to me but noooo, you had to leave and go back to Base.  _ Taehyung picks up Jongin, attempting to sway similarly but Jongin doesn’t seem convinced as he mumbles something about asshole thieves and their stupid pretty faces. 

“You okay, Jongin?” Taehyung asks, supporting Jongin’s weight easily as they stumble toward the road. Taehyung wants to teleport back but he knows that Jongin would just pass out if he did that. Best to let him gather his wits before attempting something like that. 

_ I resent that. I could’ve been a hell of a lot meaner.  _ Taemin mutters.

Taehyung sighs,  _ Yeah. I guess.  _

_ WHAT IF HE HATES ME NOW? _

_ Should have thought of that before you went on our little tour. Who knows though? Maybe he’ll find it endearing once we get him to join the resistance?  _

_ HE HATES ME. :< Tae taeeeee _

Taehyung bites back a chuckle, setting Jongin down and patting his cheek, “Hey man, you with me?”  _ He doesn’t hate you. Humans get over things fast. Go bug Yoongi for meee.  _

_ EVERYONE HATES ME. _

_ I don’t hate you, you big baby. Aren’t you supposed to be the older brother? _

_ Shut the hell up. I’m going to go bother your boyfriend, so if I get murdered it’s on you. _

_ Tell him I love him <3\. But he won’t kill you, not if he wants to continue living his undead life. I love you Taeminnie! _

_ Love you too Tae Tae~ _

Jongin groans in response, “I’m… I’m really dizzy.” 

Taehyung laughs, “To be expected.” 

“How are you still standing after that?” Jongin looks up at him, slightly awed. 

Taehyung chews his lip thoughtfully, “Lots of practise. I used to try to hop around as fast as I could just to see how fast I could do it,” He steps around the truth carefully. The full truth was he and Taemin had done this to each other so much when they were younger that he’d gotten past what little queasiness he could feel as a fae. But the practise couldn’t hurt, he reasoned, and it sounded like a decent enough excuse for a human. 

“That’s amazing,” Jongin says.

Taehyung simply shrugs, “You good to teleport back to HQ now?” Jongin nods and Taehyung sighs in relief. “Then I guess I’ll see you there,” he grins impishly before vanishing, leaving Jongin to make his own way home. 

There’s a pause and then Taehyung is back, grin a little sheepish, “That was a dick move, sorry. Let’s get going,” He curls his fingers around Jongin’s bicep and then in an instant they’re back at HQ. 

Jongin stumbles slightly and Taehyung grimaces, “Let’s uh, get you laying down. You’re probably gonna have a headache for a while,” 

“Maybe take me to Yixing,” Jongin offers weakly. 

Taehyung brightens, “Oh! Yeah. Yixing.” He glances down a hall and starts walking. 

“Wrong.” Jongin holds a hand over his mouth, trying to quell his nausea as he points toward the correct hall. “You must still be spin around from our… trip.” 

“...Yeah.” Taehyung murmurs, knocking on the door that has Yixing painted on it. The door creaks open and Minseok frowns. 

“Jongin! Why are you here? What did you do?” Minseok says.

Taehyung holds up a hand to stop the flow of questions, “We went on a whirlwind tour of the world in six seconds, courtesy of the Phantom Thief.” 

“Yikes. I’ll see what I can do,” Yixing says, coming from behind him.

Taehyung gently leads Jongin inside, settling him down on Yixing’s bed. Minseok took Taehyung’s elbow, guiding him to his bed. 

“Taehyung are you okay?” he asks, pursing his lips as Yixing gets to work. 

Taehyung nods, “I’ll be fine,” he waves his hand dismissively. 

Minseok narrows his eyes but turns his attention back to Jongin.

“He took it like a champ,” Jongin slurs, leaning into Yixing’s touch. 


	4. pitiful destiny, point your finger at me

The minute Taehyung leaves the hospital ward with Jongin and Minseok in tow, Taemin shows up in the office.

“Who are you?” Yixing demands.

Taemin smiles gleefully. “Let’s get to know each other, shall we?”

He reaches out and grabs Yixing by the shoulders and then they’re gone. Yixing stumbles away from him in the middle of the London streets, looking over at the now blonde Taemin with a mix of rage and confusion on his face.

“What are you?” Yixing asks.

“I’m a friend. To most. The question is, how would you see me Lay? Or should I call you by your real name?”

“I still don’t know you,”

“But you’ve heard of me. The notorious Phantom Thief, at your service.”

Yixing looks like he wishes he had never even gotten out of bed that morning.

“Why me?” he sighs.

“You seem unhappy stuck in that office all day. I can offer you an out.”

“But at what cost? You guys are breaking the law.”

“Are we? Is that what they told you? That we all gathered around and signed a nice peace treaty? Wrong. I suggest you look into the foundations you support, my friend. Perhaps the death of your friends were not as random as they had seemed. Why were they the ones who died? Perhaps the anti-government sentiments they held?”

“They died before we reached earth,”

“But was it really just a coincidence it was them who perished? Why do you think the government found you so quickly after you landed?”

Taemin shrugs as he can see the gears turning in Yixing’s head.

“Just consider an offer of my friendship,” Taemin says, sliding a normal looking playing card into Yixing’s hand. 

He leaves the healer two blocks from the HQ and more questions than answers.

 

Yixing walks back into the HQ in a daze, claiming that he had gone on a walk to clear his head. He makes his way back to the office he had been given and stares at the cluttered desk. What if the Phantom Thief had been telling the truth? Then what was he supposed to do? He remembered when he had lost the three. It was true that Wufan had been openly against any sort of ruling class, as had Luhan and Zitao. They never hid it, especially when they were trying to save their planet from the greedy dictators that had been running the countries there. It had ultimately been the government that had been responsible for ruining their planet, Yixing knew that. He didn’t want to think about it but he couldn’t deny the truth. He had been close with all three of them while they were on their own planet before all the wars had started, but had always shared his thoughts with Wufan most often. It had seemed strange when they had died. There had been nothing wrong with them at the start of the day and they had all agreed to go with them to earth. Then when it had come down to it later that day, they had all been struck with the same mindset that they all had to go without them and had given their energy to Jongin to use as an extra booster. Why had they all decided like that? Yixing still didn’t understand it, and he didn’t think that any of the others did either. But what if someone did know? He stares down at the card he was given by the Phantom Thief. He knew this was a bad idea, a truly terrible idea that could get him in deep deep trouble, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Maybe it was the ghost of Wufan influencing him from wherever he had ended up or maybe it was his own stupidity, but either way he slides the card into his pocket. He was going to get answers.

 

As a rule, Taehyung doesn’t train. He doesn’t need to and he’s never really felt compelled to bother with making himself sweaty for no good reason. However, there is something to be said about the joy of throwing Junmyun half way across the room under the guise of training. Junmyun gives a yelp, attempting to land without injuring himself but Taehyung doesn’t give him the chance, appearing behind him and catching him. 

“It’s like playing catch… with myself,” He beams, ignoring the incredulous look that Minseok sent his way. 

Jongin rolls his eyes, “We should practice together. I’ve heard that if you train enough you can get to the point where you can keep another teleporter from getting away.” 

Taehyung stiffens a bit in surprise. That was a fae trick that not many people knew about, and they like to keep it that way. “Sure,” 

_ Now we gotta keep him Tae tae. _

_ Shut up. _

Jongin locks his arms around Taehyung’s waist, “I’m gonna try to keep you here, you just uh… do you I guess.” 

Taehyung’s grin is sharp and cat like as he teleports to the beach. “You tried? Try again.” Back to the training room. “Again.” Beach. “Again” Training room. “You uh… wanna take a break? Swap places?” 

“I can get this,” Jongin growls. 

Taehyung looks at the ceiling and sighs softly, “Okay. Ready, set, go.” London. Paris. Tokyo. Training room. “My turn?” 

“No.” 

“Okay…” Taehyung’s not having fun anymore. In fact he’s bored and ready for this to end. It’s easy to let Jongin keep him from teleporting away… Well, maybe one more trip.

_ Six second world tour~ _

_ No. I never liked those Taeminnie.  _

_ Well, I think they’re fun. _

He makes sure to let Jongin feel like he’s at least slowing him down as he jumps into New York. Then tired of the game he pretends Jongin’s energy is holding him back. 

“Oh, would you look at that…”

“Did I do that?”

“...Yeah.” Taehyung grins. Human grammar is so vague. 

“I’ll get better at it, I swear,”

“Of course. Now let’s go back. I heard Kyungsoo wanted to talk with you,” He winks knowingly. 

Jongin goes suspiciously blank faced. “Oh, okay.”

Taehyung raises a brow, as they make their way home. “Have fun “talking” with Kyungsoo,” he grins as he walks away. 

_ Talking!!! That’s what you tell me when you and Yoongi lock yourselves in a room for sex things!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TAEHYUNG I SWEAR TO GOD. HE’S MINE I CLAIMED HIM. _

_ I can’t stop him from having relationships you know? I can only talk you up. WHICH MIND YOU IS VERY DIFFICULT CONSIDERING I’M SUPPOSED TO BE HUNTING YOU DOWN.  _

_ CONFIRMED: EVERYONE HATES ME. _

_ I love you very much. Out of obligation. We shared a womb dumbass.  _

_ I SHOULD’VE CONSUMED YOU IN THE WOMB YOU’RE THE WORST. _

_ You’re a drama queen.  _

_ Learned it from Kibum. _

_ … Fair. But chill. It’ll work out.  _

_ No it won’t. _

_ I’m trying to be the supportive older brother(™) here and you are making it very difficult.  _

_ I am going to die alone. That’s the end for me. I can see it now, you and Yoongi happily married, everyone at base happily in a relationship, me ALONE IN A ROOM BY MYSELF BECAUSE I’M HATED BY EVERYONE. _

Taehyung rolls his eyes at Taemin’s theatrics, ignoring the happy flush across his cheeks at the thought of marrying Yoongi as he rolls up a practice mat, helping with cleanup to give Jongin some space and ignoring Taemin screaming in the back of his mind. The cleanup is quick and when he’s done he strolls casually into an empty hall, flicking on a glamour as he goes. The office he stops in front of has a very nice looking plaque that reads  _ Kyuhyun _ . The office is neat and organized, with everything in it’s place. The drawers are locked, but a simple snap and everything is at Taehyung’s fingertips. The documents inside are personnel files and Taehyung can’t help the grin that spreads across his face. A simple spell duplicates the files and Taehyung takes the copies and scampers back into his room. Once in the safety of his room, Taehyung shoves the pile of files through a portal onto Taekwoon’s desk with a sticky note that reads:  _ Hope these help. -V  _

 

The vision of chaos and blood ends with a bang - a bullet lodged in Luna’s brain. Jung Soo jerks out of the vision, shivering. Without a second thought she runs towards Hakyeon and Taekwoon’s shared bunk. She bangs on the door, frantic and trying to quell the fear building within her. Hakyeon opens the door, rubbing his eyes and wearing an oversized sweater that Jung Soo is about ninety percent sure belongs to Taekwoon. “Yes?” 

“Base 2,” she stumbles forward, gripping Hakyeon’s shoulders. “It’s under attack.”

“Find Taemin and Jinki, get as many of the Fae as you can,” Hakyeon says, going back in the room to presumably wake up Taekwoon.

She takes a moment to compose herself before walking to the room that Jinki, and subsequently Daesung, had claimed upon moving to Base 1. The closer she gets the more muffled singing she can hear and something about the melody soothes her. She knocks absently, pushing the door open and more of the otherworldly singing spills into the hall. She freezes on the spot, unable to move and do anything other than appreciate the beautiful sounds coming from Jinki and Taemin inside. Taemin is playing the piano and harmonizing with Jinki inside the room and they both have their eyes closed, swaying slightly to the music they’re creating. The sound echoes around the concrete walls adding to the ethereal quality of the singing. Daesung is sitting at the fae’s feet, enjoying the music, and he looks as glazed over as she feels. The music promises things that she didn’t even know she wanted until this moment, whispering to her unvoiced desires that she kept hidden.

She doesn’t know how long she stands there, mesmerized until Jinki slowly opens his eyes and they all stop on the same unspoken cue. The abrupt stop of the music jolts her back into harsh reality and she kind of wishes that they hadn’t stopped. He smiles at her and she shakes herself out of the lingering daze, “Base 2 is being attacked. Hakyeon needs you guys to report to him.” 

“Oh,” Taemin says, looking lost in his own mind. “This should be fun.”

 

The alert goes out and the teams start to assemble. Team two and team eight would be working with team seven in order to take the rebel base by surprise. Jongin goes to find Sehun, since he wasn’t showing up with the rest of his team. He doesn’t knock on the door and just enters the room. Sehun turns and slides something into his pocket as Jongin comes into the room.

“Hey what’s up?” Sehun asks.

“We’re supposed to be heading out on the mission now, you guys were combining with us,” Jongin says.

“Oh yeah. I should’ve read that report,”

Sehun looks bored out of his mind, which isn’t unusual, and he follows Jongin back to where the rest of them were waiting. Taehyung looks uncomfortable with Heechul breathing down his neck, asking him condescending questions as if to make sure that Taehyung knows that he’s beneath him. Taehyung’s scowl is growing by the second and for a brief moment Jongin swears Taehyung’s eyes flash gold. 

“Are we going or not. Sir.” Sehun asks, tacking on the sir as an afterthought. 

“Of course. Let’s get going.” Heechul says.

“Then let’s not mince words,” Taehyung says, clapping his hands, “Let’s roll.” 

With that he takes Sehun’s hand and walks over to Minseok, taking his hand as well before vanishing. Jongin looks apologetically at Heechul before grabbing Jimin and Kyungsoo and teleporting. They end up in the desert where the other teams have already launched an attack against the rebel base.

Taehyung is barely visible, constantly flicking between places and people; just generally causing mischief and it’s hard to tell which side he’s causing more mischief towards. It’s only when Heechul and Young Woon pull out their guns that things take a turn south. Heechul’s gun is pointed at an enemy, a blue haired witch, and Taehyung can’t help himself. He stumbles into Heechul just as his finger tightens on the trigger, skewing the shot from a lethal headshot. The bullet still hits the witch in her shoulder, causing her to drop with a cry of pain. 

“What the fuck?” Heechul shouts, bringing the gun down across Taehyung’s cheek. The sigil on the butt of the gun glows blue, magic searing through Taehyung and crackling with painful energy. The impact stings and Taehyung crumples, raising an arm defensively. Blood trickles down his cheek from the open wound and Taehyung fights back the reflex tears and the blurry vision.

Taemin is there instantly, grabbing the gun and cracking it across Heechul’s face. Heechul slumps to the ground and the gun falls apart in Taemin’s hand.

“I hope that killed him,” Taemin mutters lowly, shadows beginning to flicker to life around him.

Taemin turns back around and faces the other human. “Onew, now would be a good time.” he says tightly. 

Jinki smiles serenely as he sings, the fighting stills and Taemin grins savagely as Ji Young joins in as well. Jeongguk steps back, watching as his team members sit with glassy eyes. 

“You’re next,” Taemin snarls, turning to Jeongguk, playing with a demon trap in one hand. 

Jeongguk takes a look at his chances. (They aren’t great.) His eyes flit around the battlefield and he grabs onto Minho and Jimin, jumping back to HQ without a single thought. That was a fae, probably Unseelie, angry and out for blood. No way was he facing that alone.  

The minute the demon leaves, Taemin kneels down next to his brother.

“Tae tae,” he murmurs.

Taehyung looks up, “You can’t heal me y’know?” he reminds as Taemin gently examines the wound across his cheek. “It’ll look weird.” 

Taemin pouts, “I should kill him.”

“You can’t Taeminnie,” Taehyung frowns. “At least not here. It’ll look bad on the resistance.” He slurs, spitting out a mouthful of blood. 

Rage flashes across Taemin’s features before they smooth over again and he stands with a nod. “GD, start the evacuation.” he says.

“You got it,” Ji Young says with a mock salute before grabbing a banged up Namjoon and Hoseok and teleporting back to base.

Taemin steps on Heechul’s hand with a satisfying crack as he makes his way over to where Jongin is sitting on the ground. Taemin gently brushes Jongin’s brown hair out of his face and cups his face in his hands.

“It’s quite a shame you won’t remember this, my darling,” he sighs, leaning their foreheads together.

Taehyung smiles slightly, slowly getting to his feet and making his way over to Minseok. He leans heavily on the other boy, gathering himself for probably the worst teleporting trip of his eternal life. He grits his teeth, waving at Ji Young and Taemin, “Love you,” he mumbles, sure that Taemin can hear over Jinki’s siren song. 

“Love you” Taemin says as Ji Young chides “Take care of yourself.”

Taehyung nods before vanishing. As soon at the pair reappear at HQ Taehyung slumps, groaning softly. 

“Oh my god what happened? How did I get here? Are you okay? YIXING!” Minseok’s voice raises with each sentence as he gains back his senses.

With the last of his wits about him Taehyung mimes pulling out earplugs, and glamouring them into existence. “Siren,” He mumbles, listening to the sound of Yixing running towards them. “My aim was off, dammit.”

Yixing skids into the kitchen and takes in the wounds on Taehyung.

“How the hell did you end up like that?” Yixing demands, already moving in to fix the damage.

“Stumbled into Heechul. Messed up his shot. He got angry,” Taehyung winces, leaning into Minseok as Yixing works. 

Yixing frowns and purses his lips. “Oh,” he says. 

“I don’t even know what happened. It was honestly the weirdest thing I’ve seen in my life.” Minseok mutters. 

Yixing finishes healing Taehyung and leans back into the counter. “Get some rest,” he tells Taehyung.

As soon as Taehyung moves away Yixing cups Minseok’s face in his hands, giving him a quick once over. “I’m glad you’re okay,” he murmurs, pressing a soft kiss to Minseok’s lips. 

Taehyung watches for a moment, feeling a twinge of guilt about having to make Yixing heal him when he’s perfectly capable of doing it himself. On his way back to his bunk he slides into Yixing’s room, producing a single sunflower to place on the pillow case before going to follow doctor’s orders and laying down to rest. 

 

Taemin stands from his place beside Jongin and ruffles Sehun’s hair as he walks over to where Jinki is waiting for him.

“Let’s go home,” Taemin says, lacing their fingers together and teleporting them back to base.

By the time Jeongguk makes his way back to where the fighting took place, the rebels are gone and his other teammates are just starting to come out of the siren induced haze. He brings them all back to HQ, taking note that Minseok and Taehyung were missing. Jeongguk goes straight to the medical wing, hoping to find at least one of them to minimize the paperwork. When his search comes up empty he frowns, going to Taehyung’s bunk as a last resort. 

Taehyung opens the door after one knock, leaning against the doorframe. “Yes?”

“Just making sure you weren’t taken or something. Did you grab Minseok?” 

Taehyung nods, “Yeah. He was with Yixing last I knew.” 

Jeongguk turns to leave but before he takes a step he looks back at Taehyung. “How’d you ignore the siren’s singing?” 

“I didn’t.” Taehyung says flatly, reaching into his pocket and procuring the glamoured ear plugs to wave in Jeongguk’s face. Jeongguk frowns. 

“I wish I’d have thought of that,” he mutters, “not that it would have made much of a difference.” 

Taehyung smiles slightly, waving as Jeongguk walks down the hall toward Young Woon’s office. 

Young Woon doesn’t wait for the door to shut before launching into his spiel. “What was that back there?” 

“I made a tactical decision, sir. I was the only person not incapacitated and they had a faery out for blood. My odds weren’t the best. It was in our best interests to stop the assault and retreat.” Jeongguk explains stiffly. 

“You don’t have the authorization to make those calls,” Young Woon hisses. 

Jeongguk tamps down on the urge to behead the man before him, “ _ I _ was the only thing free from the influence of the siren’s song. They would have either decimated us after killing me, or they would have killed me anyway and left you to wake up in an empty base.” 

Young Woon takes a deep breath, “Get out of my sight,” 

Jeongguk nods curtly before turning on his heel and stalking away. 

 

Jongin lies on his bunk in silence, trying to sort out his thoughts. He was told that it was a Siren song that had been used against the team, making them unable to fight back. The strange part was, he had been dreaming the entire time. He couldn’t remember any of it in detail, but he could vaguely remember a blonde figure smiling at him and feeling like he had finally been back home. It had felt like home the way this place never had. It had reminded him about the time he had spent with the rest of the Twelve before war had torn their planet apart. The damn siren song had messed with his head. He didn’t know anyone who had white blonde hair. 

There’s a soft knock on his door and Kyungsoo calls, “Jongin? Are you awake?” 

Jongin opens his mouth to answer, then hesitates and closes it again.

“I just wanted to check on you…” he trails off, “I’ll check back later,” he puts a hand against the door briefly before turning to leave. 

Jongin rolls over and faces the wall. He couldn’t explain why he didn’t want to see Kyungsoo, all he knew was that he didn’t. At all. It was strange.

 

“Come on, pleeease. Sehun let me dye your hair.” Taehyung pleads, pouting. 

“No,” Sehun mumbles and turns his back to him.

“It'll be fun. Besides, you can trust me. I've had purple hair for sooo long, I won't screw up your hair. I promise.” Taehyung tries again. “I'll dye mine too.”

“No,” Sehun mumbles, but he sounds less against the idea.

“I’ll let you pick the color for my hair,” Taehyung sings. 

“Done. Let’s do it,”

Taehyung beams, pulling Sehun into the bathroom bottles of “dye” in his hands. “I’m gonna have so much fun,” he says, mixing dyes quickly and getting right to work. Within an hour Sehun’s hair goes from sleek dark brown locks to a mess of pinks and blues with just a hint of purple. 

“What do you think?” Taehyung asks, beaming at Sehun expectantly. 

Sehun’s expression briefly lifts into a smile and that’s enough for Taehyung. He gives a quick squee before looking at the dye before him and grinning, “What color should I go?” 

Sehun considers carefully, “Silver.” 

“Okay,” He grins, pretending to mix dyes and slap it onto his head. When he rinses it out he allows himself the quick surge of magic to change his light purple hair into a silvery shade that seems to flash gold when he turns. 

“How’s it look?” He asks, “I can dye it again if I need to.” 

“It looks great,” Sehun says.

“Next time we’ll have to do the same color so we match!” Taehyung says, cleaning up his mess and bounding into his room. 

Sehun looks like he’s received a death sentence, “Next time?”

 

Sehun finds Yixing alone in his small room. Yixing turns as he enters, looking pale and Sehun is instantly on high alert.

“What is it?” Sehun asks.

“Faeries. Why faeries?” Yixing mutters, holding up a bright yellow sunflower for the other to see. 

Sehun closes the door and locks it, ensuring they won’t be interrupted.

“He left you a  _ gift _ ?” He hisses, looking at the flower with wide eyes. 

Yixing nods, looking like he was on death row. “But it’s not from Taemin so I don’t know whether to be relieved or scared.”

Yixing catches sight of Sehun’s new hair and his brows raise but he doesn’t say anything.

Sehun furrows his brows, “If it’s not from Taemin who’s it from?” 

“ _ I resent that.” _ a voice says.

They sigh in unison and pull out the cards that are shimmering. When they’re out of confinement, they float in the air and form a slightly bigger portal showing a pouting Taemin.

“Well it wasn’t from you,” Sehun frowns.

Taemin grins with an evil glint in his eyes. “Be sure to thank him properly, Yixing.”

Yixing makes a noise rather than giving an actual response. Sehun frowns, “Who gave you the flower?” 

“The faery that snuck into this base. It’s not important.” Yixing says.

There’s only one new person that Sehun can think of and now it made sense how his hair dye had set so fast. “Oh.”

“He’s my better half. And all of my impulse control. It’s for the best that he’s there,” Taemin smiles.

“Your other half? Are you…?” 

“Disgusting humans. No. He’s my brother. Your kind might do things like that but  _ we _ aren’t like that.”

Sehun raises his hands placatingly, “Just wanted to know.” 

“He is taken though. By a short undead asshole.”

_ “I heard that, Taemin. I will end you.” _

Taemin shrugs, “See what I mean? Asshole. Anyway. How’s Jongin?”

Yixing looks at the ceiling as if it holds all the answers, “He wasn’t hurt so I haven’t seen him.” 

Sehun shrugs, “He looked really confused when we got back to HQ but I think he’s fine.” 

“That’s to be expected. There was a siren.” Taemin says.

“I think I heard someone muttering about he seemed a little down though. Or drained.” Yixing sighs, “But he didn’t want me to check on him and I’m supposed to be going to heal Heechul right now.” 

“Do not heal him. At least, not fully. Let him suffer.” Taemin hisses, a dark expression flashing across his face briefly before disappearing. 

The cards float down languidly to the ground. Yixing doesn’t say anything, blinking slowly as he mulls over the options before him. On one hand leaving Heechul incapacitated could be a good thing. Everyone who’d been on that mission had seen him attack Taehyung and he wouldn’t be in anyone’s good spirits. Being attacked after that would only sour his mood to the point where he’d be insufferable to deal with. On the other hand, Yixing could be in a huge amount of trouble if anyone were to ever find out. He decides on healing him only partway, copping out on the fact that he would have to rest in order to regain the strength to heal people. Besides, having Heechul stay in a coma for a few more days wouldn’t hurt anyone.

 

Sun Young knows that Taehyung’s actions saved her life, Jung Soo told her that much as soon as she woke, and frankly she isn’t sure how she feels about being in debt to a fae, regardless of whether or not that fae will choose to collect on the debt. 

“All you need to know is that you’re alive,” Jung Soo says tightly. “We should be focusing on getting you better. We can’t lose you. You’re a core leader of the resistance and to have you taken down by infection would just be embarrassing.” She smiles. 

There’s a knock on the door and Hakyeon steps inside, closely followed by Taekwoon. He smiles charmingly, “I know you need to rest so we won’t be long but we have some things that need to be discussed.” 

Jung Soo nods, pressing a quick kiss to Sun Young’s temple before turning her attention to the other leaders. 

“Well?” Sun Young asks, arching a brow. 

“Our inside man has gotten us some information about a movement within the government itself. He says that he can’t find names because it’s so hushed up but there are people inside who’ve been working - legally - to aid us.” 

Jung Soo nods, “I see. Anything else?” 

“The bases being attacked leave us suspecting that one of our own has turned against us and is feeding the PCU information on our locations. We’re not sure what else is being sold.” 

“Fuck,” 

Hakyeon nods, “We’re working on finding the leak, but we thought you ought to know.” 

She nods, “I’m glad. Put Namjoon on it. He’ll find us some answers.” 

Hakyeon nods and Taekwoon is already halfway out the door when he murmurs a quiet goodbye. Hakyeon bids her a farewell, shutting her door behind him and leaving her to ponder on who would sell out the resistance. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://brainbowunicorn.tumblr.com/post/120130309098/sometimes-i-just-start-singing-and-my-mom-joins-in
> 
> This is what we think siren song would sound like


	5. at least i can smile when i see you

Taemin is bored. And when Taemin is bored, another bank gets robbed. Wonshik doesn’t even make a move to stop him when he sees Taemin grabbing a bag with the intention to leave.

“Do you want company?” he asks.

Taemin shakes his head no, then reconsiders. 

“Actually, yes,” Taemin says. 

Wonshik stands with a sigh, already knowing that this probably wouldn’t end well for him. He grabs onto Taemin and they teleport into the center of one of many of the banks that are scattered across the country. Taemin doesn’t even bother with subtlety this time, wanting to be caught. The woman they appear next to screams at their sudden appearance and Taemin laughs.

“This is a robbery!” Taemin shouts.

The security guard takes aim with his gun and Taemin flicks it away with a small movement of his fingers.

“None of that now. Come on, out with you so you don’t get hurt,” Taemin says. 

The civilians take his advice and start to scatter. Wonshik makes his way back towards the vault and Taemin strolls towards the desk where a petrified woman is looking at him in sheer terror. Her terror shifts into awe as he gets closer. Taemin sighs. 

“Come on now. Get up, you can leave,” Taemin says gently.

The woman stutters something and Taemin helps her out of her seat and nudges her towards the door. She stumbles a couple of steps before her feet begin working again and she flees.

Taehyung appears with Minseok in tow, fighting back a grin. Taemin turns towards them and his dark hair lightens as he spies them.

“It’s about time! I thought I would have to make a direct call myself,” Taemin says.

Taehyung rolls his eyes, “Next time call us in advance and we’ll be waiting for you.” 

“That actually might be a better idea considering your shitty response time.”

Taemin looks around. “Wait. Where’s the other half of your team?”

“They’re coming don’t worry,” Minseok mutters, unsure what to do. What use was  _ frost _ against a fucking fae?

Taemin pouts and Minseok almost feels  _ bad  _ for him. He looks like a kicked puppy. Taehyung holds back a snort, keeping his eyes fixed on Taemin as Jongin and Junmyun appear behind him. Jongin tackles Taemin from behind, and Taemin looks so damn proud of himself in the instant before they disappear. Wonshik comes back from where the vault was and spots the government team with a soft curse. He shifts into the appearance of one of the bank workers. He sighs heavily, then puts on the most panicked face he can and rushes into the open.

Minseok rushes forward, “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah! I think so. He didn’t hurt me,” Wonshik says.  _ But I’m going to hurt him _ Wonshik thinks sourly.

_ Me too buddy, _ Taehyung fights back a chuckle. 

Wonshik’s eyes flick over to Taehyung and a smile flashes across his face.

“Did he say anything to you?” Junmyun asks. 

Wonshik shakes his head, “No. Frankly, if you don’t mind I’d like to go home,” 

“Of course,” Minseok smiles reassuringly at him and waves him through the doors. 

Taehyung steps forward. “You guys okay with going back to HQ? I’ll go see if I can find them but I don’t wanna leave you stranded.”

 

Taemin and Jongin land in the field of flowers, this time with moonlight streaming down on them, and Taemin gracefully spins away from Jongin.

“You came,” he sings.

Jongin looks at him sourly. “Why do you teleport every time?”

“Why do you assume it would be easy to catch me?”

Rage flashes through Jongin, but he mostly manages to keep it off his face. He would not be nice to this asshole, no matter what. It didn’t matter that he looked almost ethereal with the moonlight streaming down on him. And it also didn’t matter that he was smiling at Jongin with such a gentle expression that Jongin felt like he had known him his entire life.

“Take this. You can use it to call me whenever you like,” he says, pressing something into Jongin’s hand.

Jongin takes it without a word and the Phantom Thief smiles. Jongin definitely does not feel like melting. Not at all.

“Let’s meet again Kai,” he says.

He disappears silently and Jongin blinks. He turns the normal looking playing card over in his hands. It looked innocent enough, just a simple black card back and black spade on the front. He knows that he should turn in the card to one of his superiors so they could trace it and use it to find the Phantom Thief. That would be the best idea and it’s what he should do as a good soldier. The image of Taehyung being hit with the gun flashes through his mind and he slides it into his pocket. He’s never been good at following procedures anyway.

He tells himself that he can get rid of it at base. He teleports back and tells himself that he’ll throw it into the incinerator. He doesn’t. He debriefs with whatever available supervisor there is, telling them nothing about his interaction with the Phantom Thief besides “Oh yeah, he teleported us away and then shook me off and disappeared again.” It was good enough for them and they send him away without a second thought. He heads back to his room and fiddles with the card. Junmyun could come back into their shared room at any time and once again Jongin finds himself hating the fact that he didn’t have a room to himself. He locks himself in the bathroom, just in case, and holds the card to eye level.

“Hello?” he asks, feeling stupid for talking to a playing card. 

The card glows and then the face of it shimmers. Jongin is suddenly faced with the Phantom Thief, almost like looking at him through a window.

“Why hello there. I didn’t think you’d call so soon,” he purrs.

“It worked,” Jongin sputters.

“Of course. I wouldn’t lie to you,”

“But why did you give this to me?”

“I trust you.”

“We barely know each other!”

“Then we should remedy that, now shouldn’t we?”

The Phantom Thief smirks at him as Jongin searches for words. Jongin can hear a commotion on the other end and the Phantom Thief looks vaguely annoyed.

“ _ Taemin you absolute asshole how could you leave me there like that _ .” someone says from the Phantom Thief’s end.

“I hate to cut this short babe, but I’m needed. Maybe one day you’ll be here with me,” he says.

He disappears and the card goes back to normal. Jongin catches the card out of the air as it falls back towards the ground, wondering what was happening to him and why exactly he had been so pleased when he had been called babe by the criminal. 

 

Taemin looks up as Wonshik approaches, the cards in his hand disappearing. Taemin smiles up at him and Wonshik punches him in the arm.

“What was that for?” Taemin whines.

“You left me at the bank so you could go flirt!” Wonshik says.

“So?”

“Taemin I can’t teleport!”

“You should work on that.”

“Why am I even friends with you?”

“Because you have no other friends.”

“Neither do you.”

“That’s why we’re friends.”

Taemin beams up at him and Wonshik rolls his eyes.

 

It’s Namjoon’s plan. Taemin and Hoseok do a beautiful job of glamouring up a large empty warehouse so it looks like a base full of people. He’s narrowed down the mole to someone from within Base 4, ruling out Jinki and Wonshik, who’d been with the rebellion since its birth. Sun Young talks to each of the four suspects, giving them each a different move in date and the information that there are a significant amount of people waiting to welcome them to the base.

Jiho looks bored at the information, “Of course. You can’t keep me here with fae and their guard dogs, they’ll eat me alive.” 

Minhyuk looks disappointed, “I was starting to like it here. It was nice not having to be around the same six people all the time.” 

Young Bae snorts, “Whatever. I go where I’m needed.” 

Daesung nods thoughtfully as he shuffles his deck of tarot cards, “It’s not me but I can understand your concern.”

It’s two days later that the empty warehouse is raided. As soon as the three teams step foot inside fae traps spring into action, leaving the teams stuck for days. As the resistance watches, Taemin taking a special moment to pop in and laugh at the PCU’s misery, they apprehend the mole. 

“How is it you fell for that? It wasn’t particularly elegant?” Namjoon asks as he leads a incapacitated Minhyuk towards his new home, the inside of a cell. 

Taemin floats behind them, holding an orb filled with Minhyuk’s powers. “I mean, we already knew that humans weren’t particularly intelligent.”

He mimicks dropping the orb just to laugh at Minhyuk’s panicked expression.

Namjoon pushes him into the cell, locking to door. “Well, that was fun. Now back to actually getting shit done.” 

“If it was up to me you would be dead. I was outvoted,” Taemin says, twirling the orb on one finger.

Minhyuk scowls, but doesn’t say anything simply watching the fae laugh as he tosses his powers into a pocket dimension. 

 

Young Bae comes skidding into the room in a panic. Everyone looks up from their respective activities to look at him.

“Uh, Young Bae? What’s going on?” Yoongi asks.

“Fire! There’s fire! Oh god, the curtains!” Young Bae says.

Hakyeon shoots to his feet and darts out of the room. Taekwoon sighs heavily as he puts his book to the side and follows after Hakyeon. 

“They’re going to need more than just a fire extinguisher,” Jinki says, glancing at Taemin as he goes to help the vampires.

Young Bae’s panic increases as the palms of his hands burst into flames. Taemin snorts with laughter as Young Bae begins to wave them around in the attempt to extinguish them.

Yoongi lets out a heavy sigh and walks out of the room, returning with a bucket of water. Calmly, he grabs Young Bae by the wrists and shoves his hands into the water. The water bubbles and hisses but for the moment the flames seem to be contained. “Now that that’s taken care of for the time being,” he huffs. “Young Bae. The more panicked you are the more flames are going to appear. So just calm down, breathe and we’ll take care of it.” 

Young Bae nods along with Yoongi’s words and steadies his breathing. He pulls his hands out of the water and looks down at them. Jinki comes back into the room with some of his clothes still slightly smoking.

“Taemin. Enough.” Jinki says.

Taemin pouts up at his advisor, “Why?”

“I am not going to put out another fire. Reverse it now,” Jinki says.

Taemin rolls his eyes as he gets off the couch, “That’s so boring,” he says.

He touches the side of Young Bae’s head and an orb of power is drawn into his hands.

“Mortals are fragile,” Jinki chides.

Taemin tosses the orb of powers back into a pocket dimension, “Whatever.”

  
  


For the next bank, Taemin decides to go big or go home. He picks the largest, most prestigious bank there is. It boasts about its impenetrable security and Taemin is dying to make fools out of them all. He invites Ji Young along for the fun and Ji Young is all smiles. They stroll right into the front lobby, taking out the security with a wave of the hand and the people inside scatter.

“Now this is fun,” Taemin says, rifling through the bank’s vault.

Taehyung appears, right on schedule with Junmyun on his arm. Jongin appears next to him with Minseok in tow. 

“Well, GD, looks like we have some company that we need to deal with,” Taemin gives them a dangerous smile. “Let’s go.” 

_ Don’t break them. _

_ Guess that means I have to break you, _ Taemin grins, tackling his brother. 

GD is careful in his assault, knocking out Minseok and Junmyun with a simple snap of his fingers. 

There’s a sickening crack and a gasp of pain as Taehyung’s arm is pulled out of socket. “Um, ow?”

Taemin grins, “Sorry,” he says and there’s another crack and Taehyung groans in pain as his elbow breaks in Taemin’s grip. 

_ I’m going to kill you for this later you little shit. _ Taehyung scowls. 

_ You always say that and yet. _

_ At the very least I’m gonna break your arm when I get home. _

Taemin kicks Taehyung away, gentler than he might have been with anyone else, and mutters, “Now stop coming back for more.” 

Jongin dodges GD’s attack and GD lets him, watching with an amused expression as Jongin proceeds to grapple with Taemin. He locks their hands together, this time certain he could stop him. He hangs on even as Taemin smiles wickedly, getting ready to teleport.

“Kai wait!” Taehyung says.

It’s too late, and the two teleport.

Ji Young kneels next to Taehyung patting his head sympathetically, “How you doing?”

“Just peachy,” Taehyung hisses, holding his broken arm carefully. “I’m going to break his legs when I get back.” 

“Exciting,” Ji Young smiles before vanishing. 

Taehyung sighs, taking Minseok’s hand. He could, realistically, take both of them but… Junmyun had called him an idiot earlier and he was still annoyed about it. This time his aim wasn’t off and he appears in Yixing’s room without any troubles. 

“He’s under a sleeping spell. It’ll wear off in about a half hour,” Taehyung says, motioning to Minseok’s unconscious form with his foot. 

Taehyung doesn't want Yixing to heal him.. He could set his arm himself and it would heal in a few days. But for the sake of appearances he has to. Yixing tutts quietly as he works, healing the bones easily enough. 

“Keep the breaks iced for the next few hours, they'll be tender for a while.” Yixing says. 

“There's a filing cabinet on the fourth floor. Second drawer. I'm not saying there's anything there that might interest you but… there's something in there that might interest you. It's locked but I have faith in your abilities.” Taehyung says quickly before smiling broadly and vanishing. 

 

Jongin and the Phantom Thief land in the field and tumble together, this time it seems that the Phantom Thief didn’t think it was necessary to try and catch himself. Kai has the Phantom Thief’s arms locked over his head and is mortified to realize that he’s practically straddling the fae as he pins him down.

“What are you going to do to me now?” the Phantom Thief purrs. 

Jongin fights against the urge to relax against him. This guy was a criminal. A criminal. Not someone he should be relaxing with, no matter how pretty they were. The Phantom Thief smiles up at him as his dark hair lightens into the white blonde hair that Jongin has begun to love so much. Wait what? Since when? He chides his subconscious as he tries to ignore the urge to just let him get away. Again.

“Are you going to handcuff me?” the Phantom Thief says. His tone is  _ sinful _ and Jongin tries really, really hard to not react. He fails.

Jongin is bucked off and rolls to the side, trying to get back on his feet before the Phantom Thief can disappear again. He’s surprised to find the blonde sitting languidly among the flowers, weaving something out of them.

“You didn’t disappear?” Jongin says.

“Not yet,” he replies.

He happily hums as Jongin tries to process this. Here he was, standing in the middle of a field like a dumbass while he watched the PCU’s most wanted criminal weave a  _ fucking flower crown _ . He knew that he would be yelled at later for not doing anything, but honestly he can’t think of anything to do. What could he do against a fae anyway?

“I can name plenty of things you could do with me actually,” the Phantom Thief says.

Jongin sputters. He hadn’t thought that he was saying those things out loud, but then again he never did much thinking around the Phantom Thief anyway.

“Call me Taemin. I prefer that to being called Phantom Thief all the time,” he smiles up at him.

Jongin sits beside him. He should definitely go back home. It would be the smart thing to do. He wasn’t that smart. Taemin finishes the crown and smiles before dropping it onto Jongin’s head. Jongin jumps and Taemin laughs. 

“It doesn’t look bad,” Taemin says.

Jongin feels like he’s been suckerpunched as Taemin turns his face up to the sun, exposing his neck. He was beautiful, and Jongin was definitely an idiot. Taemin turns to look at him and Jongin can’t help himself. It’s like instinct the way his hands slide into the blonde hair and he pulls Taemin in for a kiss. Taemin is willing, letting himself be tugged to Jongin without a fight despite the fact that he knows Taemin is probably exponentially stronger than him. It’s a chaste kiss by all standards but Taemin seems to melt into his lap all the same, draping his frame over Jongin’s marginally larger one. Jongin doesn’t know why he pulls Taemin in again for another kiss, but he does know that it feels right. Like this was what he was supposed to be doing with his time. Taemin lounges in his lap, looking up at Jongin like he’s the fae’s whole world and all of the worries seem to dissipate from Jongin’s mind. It’s intoxicating to be around him and Jongin loses his train of thought easily as Taemin strokes a hand down his arm, or in his hair. Taemin laces their fingers together and presses a kiss to the back of Jongin’s hand. 

“I have to go now, Kai,” Taemin says regretfully.

Jongin feels like he could get lost in Taemin’s eyes and a hundred other sappy romance novel things. Taemin’s eyes are dark like the night sky and Jongin feels like he can see stars in them.

“Jongin. My name is Jongin,” Jongin says.

Taemin smiles and kisses his cheek.

“I’ll see you again Jongin,” Taemin says.

He walks a couple of steps and then disappears. Jongin tries to wipe the sappy smile off of his face before he goes back to HQ. He hides the flower crown in the bottom of his closet drawer.

  
  


It’s well past midnight by the time Yixing works up enough courage to go find the cabinet that Taehyung had told them about. Minseok creeps along beside him as they make their way into the room. Yixing stares down at the drawer until Minseok nudges him and puts his hand over the lock.

“You sure about this?” Minseok asks him.

“Yeah. Yeah, do it.” Yixing says.

Frost creeps out as Minseok concentrates, and it spreads inside the lock freezing all of the mechanisms. Once it’s completely frozen he’s able to break the lock off without effort. He pulls the drawer open, revealing neatly labeled files that have all of their names.

“Oh,” Minseok says softly.

Yixing pulls out the file on Wufan and opens it. In bold red print at the top is the word ‘eliminated.’ They look at each other with a frown. It had been planned, the entire thing set up. Minseok opens the files of Zitao and Luhan to find the same results.

“We were played,” Yixing hisses.


	6. there's no way i said those words

If you didn’t know where to look, you would never find it. The club is small and quaint looking, nestled between two tall club buildings in the heart of the most undesirable part of the city. The rumors surrounding the club are just as intangible. Some say you’ll dance your life away if you enter the building. Others say that the food and drink will drive you crazy. Most just avoid it on principle. It’s not a place for mortals - that much is clear. When mortals do enter, they come out changed. If they come out at all. But every attempt to get rid of the small club had inexplicably failed, so they let it be. It was said to be owned by a small Japanese man by the name of Iwao but no one had ever seen him nor could prove any record of his existence.  

Yixing mutters to himself as he draws his coat closer to himself. Minseok would be worried sick about his disappearance but he had been told to come alone. He finds the club exactly where he was told it would be and his eyes wearily roam the long line of people, and probably supernaturals, that were lined up outside waiting to get in. Yixing cuts to the front of the line and is stopped by one of the heavily muscled bouncers.

“The line is back there,” he grunts.

“I’m here to see someone,” Yixing says.

“Aren’t we all buddy? Back of the line!” one of the men in the line shouts at him.

“Do you have a wristband?” the bouncer asks.

“A what?” Yixing says blankly.

“A wristband,” the bouncer repeats.

He displays three differently colored wristbands, orange, green, and pink. Yixing stares down at them and starts to plan on how to get home. He waves a hand at the bouncer.

“Wait what is that?” the bouncer asks.

Yixing looks down at his wrist where a metallic, silver wristband that definitely hadn’t been there before sits on his wrist.

“A wristband?” Yixing says.

“My apologies, I’m so sorry I stopped you sir it will never happen again. Please, go on inside,” the bouncer says, looking deeply frightened.

The word of thanks dies on his tongue and he steps inside without responding. The music slams into him and it becomes hard to think clearly. A waiter comes and takes his coat then disappears as fast as he came. Yixing pushes himself past the throngs of people, wondering exactly where Taemin would be. A scantily clad girl is suddenly wrapping herself around him and smiling drunkenly up at him. There’s an orange wristband on her left arm and she sways as she looks up at him.

“Want to go somewhere with me?” she asks.

Before he can respond she’s pulled off of him by another girl wearing a pink wristband and a low cut black dress.

“Hello darling. Come with me, I’ll take you to where you want to go,” she says.

She pulls him through the crowds and down a flight of stairs where there seems to be even more people.

“Want a drink?” she asks, not bothering to wait for his answer before slipping a fluorescent teal drink into his hands.

A cold hand wraps around his wrist, preventing him from taking a sip.

“That is quite enough,” they say.

Yixing looks over into the dark eyes of a complete stranger. She has closely cropped black hair and tattoos that run up her arms and down her legs.

“It took me quite some time to find you, and now I know why. Kadir, Tadeas, show this girl a lesson.” the girl commands.

The pink wristbanded girl is grabbed by two burly men that are tattooed in a similar way to the girl that has a grip on his wrist. He’s pulled further into the club and down another set of stairs before dragged behind a large curtain. The sound of the music is somewhat muffled and Yixing struggles to pull his hand out of her grasp.

“Who are you?” Yixing demands.

“I am Aisling, Taemin sent me to find you,” she says.

She pulls him through the seemingly solid wall into another room. The smell of flowers is heady and intoxicating and Yixing finds himself swaying along as he’s pulled. She pushes him towards a secluded booth near the back of the room and everything suddenly feels very much like he’s been pushed into the setting of a Godfather movie. Taemin is there, surrounded by a bunch of people that look way too strange to be called human. One of the girls has large doe eyes that overwhelm the rest of her face, another seems to be all sharp angles. The guys either have tusks or different colored skin or just  _ something _ that’s weird. Taemin notices him and gives a small smile.

“Yixing there you are. Come here, sit by me.” Taemin says.

The people surrounding him quickly move out of the way so the entire table is cleared for the two of them.

“Well done Aisling. Now will you go make sure that the other Hounds aren’t causing unnecessary trouble?” Taemin asks.

Aisling bows then disappears into the crowd. Taemin turns his full attention to Yixing, and that makes him vaguely unsettled.

“You’re probably wondering why I called you here,” Taemin says.

“Well, yeah,” Yixing says, finding his voice.

“It’s actually no reason at all, I just wanted to get you to come down here.”

Yixing just barely stops himself from slamming his face repeatedly against the oak table.

“Are you serious?” Yixing hisses.

“Yep.”

“Do you have any idea what trouble I could get in for this? I thought it would be an emergency!”

Taemin pouts and draws patterns on the table.

“You don’t have to go back there you know.”

“What?”

“You could just leave. Stay here, stay with the rest of the rebellion.”

“I can’t just up and leave! Everyone is there, waiting for me to get back.”

“I could get the others out.”

“Taemin I, no. Not yet. I want them all out, not just the four of us.”

“So what do you think of the club?” Taemin abruptly changes the subject.

“The club?”

“Yeah, any suggestions for improvement?”

“Is that why you really called me here for?”

“I thought that the wristbands were a good idea. Orange for humans, pink for supernaturals, and green for donors.”

“Donors? Of what?”

Taemin only smiles in response.

“Okay so what about the silver wristband that I have?” Yixing asks.

“Oh that? That’s for people who are specifically invited here by one of the fae. Those are special.” 

Yixing doesn’t feel like he’s all that special, mostly he just feels like he’s constantly being harassed by the faerie he’s sitting by.

“This is my little club. Most of the time it’s too…  _ unsavory _ for most of the Seelie faeries. That’s why mine are primarily the ones that are here. But no matter, you should probably be getting back to your little government office, shouldn’t you?” Taemin says.

He waves a hand and the world spins and goes dark around Yixing. When he blinks and clears his head from the fog he’s propped up on a bench in the park that’s a couple blocks away from the PCU headquarters. He stands up and sways slightly before realizing that Taemin had also taken the liberty to redress him in an outfit that belonged on one of the many incubi that had been in the club. It revealed far more than it covered. He flushes and pulls his jacket closer around him. Minseok would have a cow.

Somehow Yixing isn’t surprised that the first person he runs into is Taehyung. Taehyung freezes on the spot, folders vanishing into nothing as he squints. Then he breaks into a grin and starts laughing. “Oh. I wish I could say that outfit isn’t familiar to me.” 

“Taehyung. Don’t just laugh at me,” Yixing blushes, mortified. 

“You’re right. I should take pictures. Minseok would just  _ love _ to see this.” Taehyung teases. But he snaps his fingers - Yixing has a resounding flashback to Taemin’s antics - and he’s dressed in his own clothes once more. 

“Oh gods please tell me that I didn’t see what I just saw,” a voice says, sounding horrified.

Yixing turns to see Jongin clutching a bucket of chicken.

“Um, you didn’t just see that?” Yixing says.

“Dude I just saw way more of you than I ever needed to. That’ll teach me to get hungry in the middle of the night.”

Jongin shakes his head like he could somehow dislodge the image from his mind before hurrying along the hall towards his room.

Taehyung bites his lip, controlling his laughter. “Okay. Go to bed. Minseok is gonna wake up any minute now and find out you’re not in your bed.” He waves his hands, shooing Yixing towards his hall. 

 

Kibum is, for once, not interested in ruining someone else’s life.

“But why not?” the faerie whines in his ear, like he has been for the past hour, his hair flashing obnoxious colors.

“Because Taemin I’m trying to read my book in peace,” Kibum snarls. He had moved to base 5 specifically so he would be away from the fae princes, yet here Taemin is.

Taemin is unaffected by his tone of voice and continues to be a floating nuscience. He starts to spin in lazy circles, looking at Kibum while upside down.

“It’ll still be here when you get back. I know you have a meeting scheduled.” Taemin says.

Kibum sighs and lowers his book. “If I agree to this will you leave me alone for a week?” he asks.

“A week?” Taemin echos.

“A human week,” Kibum clarifies.

Taemin’s mouth twists in disappointment.

“Fine. Deal?” Taemin asks, stretching out a hand.

“Deal,” Kibum says, shaking it.

He feels the painful sere of fae magic then Taemin disappears. Kibum shakes the lingering burn out of his hand then turns to his expansive closet to find the perfect outfit. It wasn’t just an average meeting this time and he wanted to look his best.

 

Taemin returns to base to gather a few supplies. It would be mostly magic, and he was excited. The two fae advisers watch him flit around the room.

“I still don’t think this is a good idea,” Ji Young chides.

“Why?” Taemin asks to humor the advisor.

“There are way too many variables! Any number of things could go wrong. This is a government building Taemin, not a bank.”

Taemin rolls his eyes.

“I’ll be fine,” he says.

“Come on Ji Young, lighten up. You Seelie need to learn to live a little,” Jinki says.

Ji Young huffs and Taemin smiles at Jinki as he passes him.

“Taemin please be careful,” Ji Young pleads.

“Later,” Taemin calls over his shoulder.

He miscalculates the jump and lands on top of Wonshik’s lap.

“My bad,” Taemin mutters as Wonshik lets out a scream.

“When you said you were going to show up I never thought you meant literally in my lap,” Wonshik mutters before shoving the fae off of him.

“Come on, I don’t want to miss the show,” Taemin laughs.

Wonshik rolls his eyes as he stands. His body seems to ripple, then Taemin is standing in front of a twenty something blonde woman.

“Wow, what a hot date,” Taemin says before pulling a glamour over himself.

He checks it in the mirror, making small adjustments to his new thirty year old businessman appearance.

“Ah yes, nothing like middle age,” Taemin says.

“Taemin, that’s not middle age for humans anymore. They can live for up to a hundred now, maybe a hundred and twenty if they’re lucky,” Wonshik informs him in his now higher pitched voice.

“Do they really? That’s amazing,”

Taemin twirls away from the mirror, light on his feet, before he remembers that he’s supposed to be acting like a human.

“Well darling, shall we go to lunch?” Taemin asks.

“Don’t call me that,” Wonshik grumbles, linking arms with him.

Taemin chooses the cafe directly across from the target building. Kibum would call in from his secure location and then Taemin would give the cue to Taeil, Ji Young, and Jinki on the roof; and together they would all pull a glamour over the highly visible, large building. It was perfect and who knew, maybe one of the witches would decide to help out. Taemin wishes that Taehyung was here to see it in real time, but that would also ruin the surprise for him. Wonshik takes a seat at the little table they’re shown to and Taemin settles in across from him. All they had to do now was wait for the call.

 

Jongin, Sehun, and Kyungsoo slide into a cafe for their lunch break and are immediately offered seats by a smiling human waitress. They’re all in their pristine white government uniforms which automatically commands respect from anyone they meet. Jongin personally thinks the collars are too stiff. He skims the menu to decide what he wants to eat before letting his eyes wander around the cafe. It’s decently busy and the hum of conversation in comforting. His eye catches on a dark haired man that’s staring unflinchingly back at Jongin. His dark eyes seem nearly familiar, but the man is in his thirties and is seated at a table with a blonde woman that’s talking animatedly at him. Jongin gets uncomfortable the longer they stare and for some reason he can’t look away. The blonde woman looks over at him, eyes widening as she sees him before she smacks the dark haired man on the arm and says something to him. Sehun nudges him out of his trance and they order food. Jongin is only half paying attention to the conversation so he’s grateful that the food arrives fast so he has an excuse to not say anything.

“Kai. Kai!” fingers snap in front of his face. “ I swear to god you always pay more attention to your damn chicken than to people.”

It’s Kyungsoo and he looks irritated.

“What?” Jongin asks.

Sehun laughs as Kyungsoo rolls his eyes in irritation.

“I was asking why you’re so spacy today,” he says.

“Oh. I don’t know. I didn’t sleep all that well last night,” Jongin replies with a shrug. 

It’s not a lie but it’s not the whole truth. He had been talking with Taemin in his dream. Kyungsoo immediately launches into mothering mode and Jongin tries to brush off his concerns to no avail. 

 

While they continue to argue, Sehun finds his eyes drawn to the dark eyes of the man seated with the blonde woman. The man winks at him then says something to the blonde that has her immediately protesting. The man pouts at her and Sehun’s stomach drops to his feet. Oh.  _ Oh _ . Sehun snaps his eyes back down to his food. If  _ he _ was here he would have something planned and Sehun probably should figure out exactly what that was in case he needed to escape. Nothing within the restaurant catches his eye so he turns his attention to the buildings outside. Directly across from the cafe is one of the larger government owned buildings, one that specifically dealt with the finances of the PCU and other key government groups. It was one of the most highly visible buildings in the downtown area. He wouldn’t. Actually, who was Sehun kidding, this was right up Taemin’s alley. Sehun meets his eye again and the man smiles before returning his attention to his meal and the woman with him.

“You okay? You’re looking a bit pale,” Kyungsoo says.

Sehun belatedly realizes that this was directed at him. 

“Me? Yeah, I’m fine. Just fine,” Sehun says, knowing full well it’s not convincing at all.

His fingers fold his napkin over and over and now even Jongin is looking at him in concern.

“I’m just feeling a bit off, maybe I ate too fast,” Sehun says.

He schools his face into an expression of indifference and waves off their concerns. He discreetly looks back over at the blonde’s table and notices that the man is rapidly texting away on a cell phone. A cell phone? None of the fae ever used technology, they never needed to. Had he just been panicking over nothing? Was he just projecting his anxieties on people around him? God he needed to chill out. That was probably just a normal businessman who was out on a lunch date with his wife or whatever and now Sehun was thinking that he was a fae prince in disguise. Maybe Yixing could make him some special tea or something to help him just chill. 

_ You weren’t imagining things, pet. Good spot. _

The familiar voice intrudes into his head alongside enormous pressure behind his eyes. It’s painful and he tries not to show it.

_ Stop fighting and it’ll stop hurting. Relax little pet. _

Sehun cautiously relaxes and the pain stops immediately. It’s a strange feeling to have Taemin’s mind pressed right against his own.

_ See? Isn’t that better? _

_ Taemin why are you here? _

_ Just you wait. It’ll be spectacular, or at least I hope it will be. Now, do tell me how you were able to see past the glamour. _

_ You just acted like yourself? I don’t know. _

_ Oh, so you’ve studied my actions close enough to recognize me even through a glamour? _

_ Get out of my head. _

_ For now pet. Now, your attention to the screen please. _

Taemin’s laughter echoes in his head and then his presence is gone, leaving Sehun feeling kind of empty. He shakes off the feeling and returns his attention back to Jongin and Kyungsoo. He didn’t see a screen anywhere.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN HOW DO YOU DO?” a voice suddenly booms out.

They all jump and the building across from the cafe lights up into a giant screen. It displays a man with blazing red hair wearing next to nothing. His face is hidden behind an iron mask that Sehun thinks belongs to some of the more… interesting sections of the red light district. The man on the screen leans back and everyone from inside the cafe rushes out to get an unobstructed view. There’s something hypnotizing about the man on the screen and once they look up at him, no one can seem to look away.

“We have an issue,” Kyungsoo says.

“You think?” Jongin asks.

“There has to be a projector somewhere, we need to find it,” Kyungsoo says.

They all stay rooted to the spot and stare up at the screen. 

“I’m hoping to provide you all with some very enlightening and interesting information and or entertainment today dear friends.” the man says.

He gestures to the room behind him which is decorated in deep crimson and black.

“Today I’m going to give you an inside glimpse of my life. I’m having a guest over, and as you can imagine he isn’t here for a cup of tea. Confession time, I’m an incubus who used to work in the red light district. Don’t bother looking for me there, dear PCU. You guys did an awfully wonderful job of clearing out all of the supernaturals there. Which is why I believe that you’ll all find this very ironic. You’re all about to meet one of my regular clients.”

The incubus gives a small wave to the camera before backing away and sitting on the edge of the bed, turned away from the camera and looking expectantly at the door. Sehun tries his best to not focus on exactly how undressed the incubus is when he’s stretched out seemingly to display everything. A knock comes from the door.

“Come in,” the incubus purrs.

A shock goes through Sehun as he recognizes exactly who the client is. It’s Young Woon plain as day.

“Is that Kangin?” Jongin whispers in horror.

“Hello again kitten. You get even better looking every time I see you,” Young Woon says from on the screen.

Sehun thinks he’s going to vomit. There was his team leader, the one who absolutely detested supernaturals, right there in a room with one. The incubus opens his arms and Young Woon slides into them like he’s probably done many times before. Clothes start to come off and thankfully the screen goes dark before anyone can see anything else. Murmuring comes from the crowd but no one leaves. In fact, more people seem to be gathering. There’s even a news camera there.

“Are you okay?” Kyungsoo asks.

“Um,” Sehun chokes out.

The screen flickers back to life and the red haired man comes back into view, close to the camera.

“I hope you all enjoyed seeing dear Young Woon here. Oh right, most of the public knows him as Kangin. He’s one of the leaders of a special team in the PCU. He’s in the bathroom right now, but does anyone have any bets on how long it will take me to get him to tell you all his exact position?” he asks.

He gets back into the bed and pulls the covers over himself. Young Woon comes back into the room, pulling on his pants.

“Leaving so soon?” the incubus asks.

“Sorry kitten. My lunch break is almost over and I have to get back to work,” Young Woon says.

“Where is it you work again? It must be someplace nice, I’m not cheap,” the incubus says.

Young Woon rolls his eyes and pulls out a wad of cash that he gives the incubus. There’s easily a couple million won in the wad, maybe more.

“I work at the PCU, remember? I’m one of the leaders of one of the very special teams, kitten. It’s all boring stuff, but it lets me afford to see you,” Young Woon says.

“Have fun at work. Call again soon,” the incubus says.

“You bet I will.”

Young Woon leaves and the incubus grins at the camera.

“Well what do you know? There you have it dear PCU. I hope this is a dear reminder of just how much you still rely on supernaturals, whether you admit it or not. We’re tired of having to hide, this is only the beginning. Ciao.”

The screen goes dark once again, then the building fades back to normal. Sehun hears an all too familiar laugh before the building turns an obnoxious fluorescent green color.

“We should get back, there’s going to be one hell of a shit storm,” Sehun says.

 

Taemin laughs as they all make it back to the base and shake off their glamours. All of the fae are celebrating the success of the mission down at the club owned by Taemin and some of the others hesitantly join them, making sure to not touch any of the fae food or drink and sticking to the other things that are provided within the club. Everyone especially congratulates Sun Young, who had cast the spell to turn the building green much to the chagrin of Jung Soo. She turns down a drink that Taemin offers her and takes one from a human server instead.

“I threw in a twist. Anyone who tries to paint the building will turn the color of their paint for a couple days after,” Sun Young says.

This sends all of the fae into another round of laughter.

“Luna you’re a genius!” Daesung says as he happily cuddles into Jinki’s side.


	7. it hides the truth and rips me apart

Sehun is furious. Alongside Kyungsoo he had been interrogated for the past eleven hours. Now that he was finally given the all clear to leave and go about his normal life, he had immediately headed out onto the streets. He had heard Yixing mention Taemin’s club, and seeing how he wasn’t answering the normal contact method, Sehun had decided to just go to the club and see if he could find him there. As he’s getting near to the club, the playing card grows warm in his pockets. He ducks into an alleyway and holds the card up.

“You called?” Taemin says.

“Awhile ago. Where are you? I need to talk,” Sehun says.

“Are you near my club? Go inside. I’ll send Aisling to bring you.”

Taemin cuts the connection and Sehun sighs. He heads towards where the club was allegedly at and is faced by a long line. Great. There’s a fluttery feeling on one of his wrists and he looks down to find a metallic silver wristband. He heads to the front of the line and ignores the protests of the people in line before flashing the wristband at the bouncers at the door. They let him in without question and he slides into the club. The music is loud and it definitely has some form of enchantment on it. The more Sehun tries to fight against it, the stronger it seems to become. He’s grabbed suddenly by a heavily tattooed woman. Her face looks severe and he feels a wave of fear roll over him.

“Are you Sehun?” she asks before he can panic.

“Yes?” he says.

She pulls him along with her.

“I am Aisling. Do not be afraid mortal, I have no orders to harm you,” she says.

What was with the fae and always saying the things that had the tendency to unnerve you the most? She pulls him behind a curtain, then pushes him through a solid wall. The music in this room is different, more haunting, and there are booths that are separated from each other rather than randoms tables and chairs like the rest of the club. He’s pulled towards a table near the back of the room where Taemin is seated conversing with a small Japanese man. He looks ancient, yet he moves like he’s still in his twenties. Taemin looks up at Sehun as he approaches the table.

“There you are! This is Iwao, the technical owner of the club,” Taemin says.

He shoos the old man out of the seat and Sehun slides into it. Iwao totters away and Aisling sits on the other side of Taemin.

“So. You wanted to talk?” Taemin says, swirling his drink absently.

“I know you were behind the whole thing with Young Woon,” Sehun says.

“Yes.”

“Why did you do it?”

“To expose their lies to the public. The PCU isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, but I’m guessing you’ve already figured that out.”

“I was interrogated for eleven hours.”

“And now you’re here.”

“I don’t want to be in there anymore. I can’t handle it. There are too many secrets.”

“Secrets? Ah yes, the PCU does seem to have an awful lot of them.”

“Taemin.”

“If you stay in, you could bring in more information. They need to trust you.”

“Stay there? Are you kidding?”

“We need more people on the inside if we want to bring them down.”

“And you want me to do that?”

“Yes. I’d be keeping a closer eye on you and I’d be able to get you out if your position was threatened.”

“Do I have any other choice?”

“Not really pet.”

Sehun drops his head to the table with a thump. He winces when it hurts more than he thought it would. Taemin combs through Sehun’s hair and Sehun tenses. Taemin pretends to take no notice of it and continues with his actions.

“I won’t let you be harmed,” Taemin murmurs.

“His heart is so heavy,” Aisling says. 

Sehun looks over at her and she glances over at him. Taemin gives a small frown and Aisling stops herself from saying anything else.

“Wait, what did she mean by that?” Sehun demands.

Aisling looks at Taemin and he gives a nod of permission with a sigh. Aisling turns her attention back to Sehun.

“I am the second in command of Gabriel’s Hounds. That might not mean much to a mortal such as yourself, but as one of the Hounds I am able to sense and feed off of the emotions of others. You are still sad from losing your loved one and that is the weight that you carry,” she says.

Sehun’s first instinct is to feel violated, but then it fades. The fae didn’t really have any notion of boundaries and they were just doing things that were normal for them. What a weird way to live. Then again, this was coming from someone who could control an element.

“Can you try to give me the privacy of my emotions?” Sehun asks wearily.

“I do not share what I can sense with anyone,” Aisling says.

There’s a sudden scuffle across the room and a fight breaks out. Aisling sits up straighter and her eyes glow with excitement. Taemin makes a shooing motion and she shoots out of the seat towards the scuffle. Sehun runs his hands through his rainbow hair. Taemin snaps his fingers and the silver wristband is replaced with a simple black bracelet that has a single dark jewel on it.

“This will help you see through glamours and other lies. It won’t fall off and you won’t be able to take it off until you come back to me. It will keep you safe until I get you out,” Taemin says.

Sehun should have expected a catch with the gift. He pulls absently at the bracelet. At least it looked nice.

“Let’s get you back there before they can start to miss you. Make sure to keep up on your training. You never know when your power will come in handy,” Taemin says.

 

Jongin would like to think that he’s independant. He would also like to think that he doesn’t necessarily _need_ to meet with Taemin, he just _wants_ to. He just kind of wishes that it didn’t involve so much sneaking around. He feels guilty, but Taemin is always very good about making him forget to be guilty. He meets him outside the club, Taemin waiting for him outside  and smiling broadly when he sees him.

“There you are,” Taemin says, pulling him in for a kiss.

Taemin laces their hands together and teleports them to the streets of Italy. It’s the middle of the day there and they easily fall into the crowd of people. Taemin pulls him along, pointing out some of the historical sights they pass and occasionally telling him stories about what he’s done there or that he knew the person who built that building, or he doesn’t remember how that building got there but they have the best gelato ever and Jongin needs to taste it right now. Jongin loves the way they waste the day together, just the two of them strolling along the streets, and he’s glad that today is one of his days off so he has no obligations to worry about.

 

“I thought you agreed to go to dinner with me,” Kyungsoo says quietly once he gets back.

Jongin freezes with a smile plastered on his face.

“I did?” Jongin asks.

“You did,” Kyungsoo says.

“Sorry, I got all caught up with what I was doing and I lost track of time and now-”

“Now it’s one in the morning.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine, I ate with Junmyun.”

Jongin rubs at his neck and awkwardly excuses himself from the now tense room. He heads back to his own room and burrows under the covers. Sleeping would help, like it always did.

 

Not many people seem to notice Taehyung unless they need something from him which really is convenient considering that he’s constantly sticking his nose into other people’s files and folders. His favorite places to frequent are the vent above Leetuk’s office (he’s the leader of the PCU and holds plenty of meetings with juicy information being passed around), Kyuhyun’s office with it’s pristine organized files, and the cafeteria (you’d be amazed at what information simple gossip can yield). 

Simply put Taehyung had more information than the resistance needed. He knew who hated who, who was likely to bow to other’s will and he knew what the PCU’s end game was. The only thing he didn’t know was when they planned to strike against the resistance once more. Because those battles were usually planned as soon as new updated information came in Taehyung rarely has more than a few days to warn the others. Not that they need more than a few hours warning but the point still stood. It’s slow and ineffective and Taehyung is  _ bored _ . And Taemin, his usual source of entertainment, is absolutely no help - suggesting he play games that could risk his position. It’s tempting but Taehyung doesn’t want to do something stupid and ruin their line of information because he’s bored. 

 

It’s a stupid mistake in retrospect, one he’d been dodging for his time at HQ. The seer’s touch is so brief it’s almost funny, just her pinky brushing against the skin of his collar as she grabs his shoulder to ask him a question. She gasps as she realizes and Taehyung throws up a glamour so hard she faints and he catches her, gently laying her on the ground. With any luck she won’t remember this in the morning. 

It takes her hours, long enough that Taehyung dares to hope that she’d forgotten. But she does remember and it’s mid afternoon when Jeongguk follows her to Taehyung. There’s a brief scuffle and then Jeongguk has him pinned, demon magic fighting fae magic to keep him from teleporting away. He does manage to get away from a half second before Minho joins the fray and adds his magic to keep him down. Jeongguk slams his head into the floor and Taehyung goes limp. 

When he wakes a few minutes later it’s in a small room with the majority of the PCU’s magically endowed members. Minho, Song Qian, Jeongguk, Seunghyun, Kyung. It’s five to one odds, not that that’s stopped Taehyung before. The fight is over before it begins really, with Seunghyun and Jeongguk pinning him down with their demon magic. 

“He has some way to contact the outside world,” Minho says, looking to Song Qian for answers. 

“It’s a telepathic link with someone. I can’t tell who.” She murmurs, her fingertips to Taehyung’s forehead. 

He’s quiet, shutting her out mentally with every method he knows, flicking through images of Jung Soo just to rub it in Song Qian’s face that she isn’t the best seer around. Daesung flickers to mind,  _ He’s better than you too. _ He thinks smugly. 

She scowls bitterly. “Is there a way to sever it?” 

A surge of panic causes Taehyung to pale, “That will kill me,” he blurts. 

“We can’t kill him. The entire fae realm will come after us,” Song Qian says almost regretfully. 

“Can we just… block it for a bit?” Seunghyun murmurs. 

Minho considers, looking to Kyung for back up. “It’s possible. It’ll hurt him. A lot. But it’ll mute the connection.” 

Song Qian nods, “Do it.” 

Jeongguk hesitates, the last time Taehyung had been hurt in any way an angry faery had almost razed their forces down without a single thought. A sudden burst of clarity made him realize that that fae must be the one he shared the telepathic bond with. 

“That’s a really bad idea, even by my standards.” he tries. “Like remember that one time where I wanted to steal Kyuhyun’s ID badge and sneak into the break room because we heard it had like snacks and awesome couches and shit? And then you told me that that was the worst idea I’ve ever had? Well this is like that idea… times like ten.” 

“Too bad,” Song Qian snaps.

Jeongguk scowls. 

He does have to stay in the room to help hold Taehyung down  _ during _ the process. It starts out simply, with Minho and Kyung muttering ancient languages. It’s only a few minutes later that Taehyung starts thrashing. Jeongguk thinks that he might be muttering some sort of counterspell, because the language Taehyung gasps out is foreign and Kyung scowls as he grabs Taehyung by the chin. 

“Hold his head for me,” Kyung orders, pulling out a knife and slicing the tip of his finger open. Seunghuyn does as he’s told, holding the faery’s head still and ignoring the way Taehyung shudders. With the blood beading on his fingertip Kyung draws a careful sigil on Taehyung’s forehead, nodding as he steps back and sends a surge of magic into the sigil, sealing it. 

Taehyung lets out a sound somewhere between a sob and a scream curling into himself as much as the two demons will allow. Soft whimpers can be heard and Jeongguk, from his position by Taehyung’s shoulder, can see the tears staining his cheeks. His body trembles and Jeongguk wonders just how long the fae’s body can take the seal before breaking. 

Self preservation has Jeongguk walking to the door, “I’ll be here, guarding.” He murmurs, closing it behind him. He wants absolutely nothing to do with what’s about to happen in there. 

Taehyung can’t think. He can’t breathe. It hurts so much. And it’s so empty. So quiet. “Taeminnie,” he groans, but there’s no response and reaching out for him only results in a stabbing pain so intense that he gags. 

Song Qian grabs his face, “Names. You work with the resistance. I need names.” 

Taehyung can’t even think let alone  _ hear. _ The resounding silence in his head is so loud it rings and he blinks blearily at the seer before him. Blood trickles from Taehyung’s nose, down his lips and dripping onto the concrete in front of him. With each soft drip drop Taehyung’s head pounds. He can taste his own blood as he groans, shaking his head in an attempt to clear it. But the pain intensifies with every motion and he whimpers. 

“ _ Names. Now _ .” She orders once more and all he can do is close his eyes and whimper. 

There’s an electric feeling surging through him, Kyung’s fingertips crackling with energy as he attempts to bring forth answers. Taehyung shakes, curling further into himself, gasping. 

“I c-can’t-” He tries to articulate, wishing they’d let his arms go so he could hold his head and keep it from shattering apart. 

Seunghyun wraps a hand around Taehyung’s throat, looking to Kyung for an order. Kyung raises a brow, “Get the answers from him. We need that information.” Song Qian snaps.

Seunghyun nods, satisfied, and a dark energy settles into the room. Minho steps back, almost pressing against the door. This is something he won’t do. If he wasn’t needed to maintain the block on the telepathic bond he’d have left. 

“We can make this easy Taehyung,” Seunghyun purrs, his demonic nature coming out in full force against the weakened fae. “Just give us the information.” 

Taehyung’s fingernails bite into his palm as he struggles to just focus. If he could focus maybe he could work on getting  _ out _ . Seunghyun’s energy rips through Taehyung and he lets out a cry. 

It’s a quiet moment while Taehyung gathers himself, breathing hard, tears streaking his cheeks. “P-please,” he begs, “I can’t.” 

Seunghyun bodily throws Taehyung across the room and he slams into the wall with a whimper. Taehyung just takes the kicks to the ribs and the way his hand is crushed under Seunhyun’s foot. The brutal beating lasts only a few moments, but it’s more than enough to have Taehyung spitting blood from his mouth and his eyes fluttering weakly. 

“Names,” he hisses. 

“T-taehyung, code name V,” he groans, “Yoongi. Taemin, Monster, Ravi.” He’s spewing the only names that can come to him in this state. His vision is blurring and he can barely focus anymore. Distantly he hears Seunghyun yelling something, but it takes so much energy to think, let alone  _ hear. _ Another surge of energy and Taehyung goes limp, eyes rolling to the back of his head and head lolling forward. 

“Damn it,” Song Qian hisses, slapping Taehyung’s cheek until his eyes flutter weakly open. 

 

Taemin knows something is going wrong when he gets up in the morning. He could feel Taehyung’s anxiety through their bond throughout the morning but brushes it off in order to help organize the chaotic base. It’s when he gets up from lunch, halfway through saying something sarcastic to Yoongi that he feels the sharp pain. He collapses, cradling his head and tries to stop the noise that is coming from his mouth. It’s empty in his head, so empty, and he can’t feel anything from Taehyung. He’s vaguely aware of being pulled up between Yoongi and Ji Young trying to figure out what’s wrong but he can’t tell them anything. He gets a vague glimpse of a cell and then it’s gone again. It feels so wrong, like he had suddenly been forced out of his own skin and was now a completely different person. One without Taehyung.

Taemin shakily looks around at the small crowd that’s gathered around him. Something was blocking his connection with Taehyung and he knew that whatever he was feeling Taehyung was feeling amplified. He had to get to them.

“Taehyung. Taehyung,” Taemin gasps. 

He means for it to come out as a full sentence, and it doesn’t. Jung Soo approaches him, cradling his face in her hands in order to see.

“They blocked the bond with Taehyung. He’s in trouble. I’m pretty sure there are wards around him so we’re going to need a team,” she says.

She stands, going to put together a team. She pulls in Ji Young, Sun Young, Amber, Jonghyun, Jinki, Kibum, and Taeil. Yoongi pushes his way onto the team, supporting Taemin and snapping at anyone who tries to pull him away.

“Hongbin, Hyuk. I’ll contact you if we need more backup,” Jung Soo says. 

Taemin pulls himself together, opening a portal with the help of the other fae. Wards or not he would shred them to open a portal. Ji Young felt almost sorry for anyone who stood in Taemin’s way. Almost. Taemin’s eyes were the cold metallic silver that Ji Young knew meant trouble.

When they all step into the office of Yixing, the healer doesn’t look surprised. Rather, he looks kind of terrified that a murderous looking fae was coming through the portal with a group of other supernatural beings on his tail. Minseok comes into the room from the back, and it’s only Taemin’s mark that saves him from being attacked.

“What’s going on?” he squeaks.

“Taehyung is in trouble,” Taemin hisses.

“Do you have an intercom?” Jinki asks.

“I can take you to it,” a new voice says.

It’s Sehun, and Taemin is almost relieved to see him there.

“Go. Now. The rest of you spread out. Take out as many as possible, try not to kill,” Jung Soo commands, knowing full well she wouldn’t be able to stop any of the fae.

Jinki and Taeil follow behind Sehun and head towards the intercom. Kibum and Sun Young head off in another direction as do Jonghyun and Amber. Ji Young, Jung Soo, and Yoongi follow Taemin down towards the dungeons. Yixing and Minseok stay behind in order to maintain that they had nothing to do with the raid. Ji Young winces as he notices that Taemin is barely maintaining control with his powers. They breeze into the dungeons easily, Jung Soo making most of the human guards fall asleep.

She heads in the direction of the other cells to cause as much trouble as possible while also freeing anyone who looked remotely helpful. Taemin makes a beeline for the deeper cells that he knows hold Taehyung, his power straining to get out. Ji Young purses his lips as he can see wisps of shadows radiating from Taemin. Time to get behind him instead of in the line of fire. He pulls Yoongi with him despite the protests.

“Trust me,” Ji Young whispers.

The hushed moment is shattered by the sound of Taehyung’s agonized screams. Ji young holds Yoongi back as Taemin darts towards the sound. He spies Jeongguk and his eyes narrow only slightly before he pulls out a demon cube.

“I swear to god I didn’t hurt him,” Jeongguk tries, holding up hands and stepping aside to let Taemin at the door. 

“Later,” Taemin says as the demon is trapped in the cube anyway.

He tucks it into his pocket and tears the cell door off it’s hinges like it’s made of paper. Inside Minho is pressed against a wall, shaking his head, watching with horrified eyes. Song Qian is standing over Taehyung, her hands pressed to his head, trying to see the answers he can’t give. Kyung is standing next to her, a hand over his mouth, wincing in sympathy as Seunghyun holds Taehyung upright by his hair. Taemin’s power detonates in the small room and it’s suffocating. Both warlocks immediately slump to the ground, Taemin having a small amount of mercy for them. The other two aren’t so lucky.

All the edges of his smile are too sharp for it to be anywhere near friendly and he lets out a dark laugh. He pins them both against the wall and kneels beside Taehyung. The faint sounds of Siren song can be heard echoing through the halls, letting Taemin know that Jinki and Taeil had reached the intercom.

“Taehyung? Tae tae?” Taemin whimpers, running his hands over his brother’s bruised face, trying to heal him.

Taehyung’s eyes flutter open and he groans, “Taeminnie?” as if he can’t believe that Taemin is actually there in front of him. “Taeminnie it hurts.” 

Taemin cradles Taehyung. He was cold, too cold for the sunshine that was supposed to be inside of him. He can feel Taehyung, he was right there but the silence was still oppressive. Why couldn’t he feel him? He smears the sigil that had been drawn on his brother’s head and it still does  _ nothing _ .  _ He still couldn’t feel him _ . The panic must show in his eyes as he looks over to Ji Young because the advisor picks up on his thoughts he must be broadcasting. Taemin pulls Taehyung closer, wrapping his arms around him and trying to  _ feel _ again. Taehyung burrows into him and it doesn’t make it better which loosens Taemin’s control on his powers even further. Ji Young moves out of Taemin’s line of vision and then he hears the sound of a neck breaking. The connection reestablishes and Taemin almost sobs as his brother’s monologue comes back into his head. Taehyung is sobbing and they pull each other even closer, looping the pain back and forth between them.

“Okay, let’s get you back home,” Ji Young says, grabbing onto both of them.

Taemin’s eyes snap to where the demon and witch are both still pinned to the wall in a silent command.

“I’ll take care of it,” Ji Young promises.

Taehyung reaches out blindly, still clinging to Taemin, “Yoongi,” he chokes out. 

Yoongi takes his hand, pressing a kiss to his knuckles. “I’m here.” Taemin had honestly forgotten that the vampire had followed him into the base, only remembering at his brother’s pleads for his boyfriend. Yoongi threads his fingers through Taehyung’s hair, moving as close as he dares with Taemin still crackling with energy. 

Ji Young teleports them away and is back within the second. He turns to the two on the wall and with a wave of a hand drops them into a pocket dimension. He finds Jung Soo and she calls for a retreat and the resistance team disappears as quickly as they came.


	8. never said i'm a saint

Taehyung sleeps for four days in the medical wing, his body trying desperately to repair the damage it’d been dealt. He wakes frequently, jolting out of sleep from fear and reaching over to feel his brother’s warmth beside him. Other times it’s pain that wakes him, causing him to curl into himself, trembling and gasping at the way his head feels like it’s going to explode. The cuts and bruises are slower to heal than normal, taking the entire two days to fade entirely when before it only took hours. But it’s the constant headache that’s most frustrating. Taehyung doesn’t know how long it will last, but he’s hopeful that with some help from Hoseok they can finish repairing the damage the other two warlocks had done and the headaches would fade. 

When he wakes there are two people pressed to his sides - Taemin on one, Yoongi on the other. He sighs contently, nuzzling into Taemin’s shoulder briefly before rolling to press a kiss to Yoongi’s cheek. Yoongi rolls to face him, throwing one arm over Taehyung’s waist. 

Taehyung cups Yoongi’s jaw, pulling him close for a sweet kiss. “I missed you,” he murmurs. 

“I missed you too,” Yoongi replies, tucking himself closer under Taehyung’s chin. “You scared the shit out of me.” 

“I know,” he sighs, “I’m sorry.” 

Taemin makes a disgusted noise and rolls out of the bed.

“Have fun sinners,” Taemin says, slamming the door behind him.

Taehyung laughs, “I think that means he’s giving us permission to be gross and affectionate.” 

“Fuck permission, if I wanna be gross and sappy with you then he’ll just have to deal with it,” Yoongi grumbles, pressing kisses along Taehyung’s collarbones. “You’ve been gone for  _ months _ , I deserve to be mushy.” 

Taehyung giggles, tilting his head to the side as Yoongi kisses up his neck. “A little birdy told me you were a mopey ass the entire time I was gone.” 

“Does the little birdy’s name start with Tae and end with min?” Yoongi leans back to smile at Taehyung, broad and genuine. 

“Why yes, it does.” Taehyung says, kissing the tip of Yoongi’s nose. 

Yoongi laughs, “Your little birdy, as much as I hate to admit it, was right. It was boring as fuck without you here and I missed you. A lot.” 

Taehyung presses kisses to Yoongi’s jaw, “I missed you too, Yoonie.” 

Yoongi’s smile widens and he pulls Taehyung in for a proper kiss. It’s a little more demanding and hungry with Yoongi’s teeth tugging at Taehyung’s bottom lip as the fae twines his fingers into the other’s dark hair. Taehyung sighs, running his other hand down Yoongi’s back to grip his hip. Yoongi gives a soft growl, throwing his leg over Taehyung’s and tugging him impossibly closer. It’s Taehyung who breaks away to kiss down Yoongi’s neck, sucking a hickey just above Yoongi’s collar. It won’t stay for long, but it gives Taehyung a thrill anyway knowing that, for however brief a time, that Yoongi is marked as  _ his _ . Yoongi hums pleasantly, threading his fingers through Taehyung’s silvery locks. 

“Babe,” He groans as Taehyung slides his hand under Yoongi’s shirt, thumbing at the ridges of the smaller man’s hips briefly before pulling away to help rid Yoongi of his shirt. Yoongi tugs at Taehyung’s shirt, silently asking permission. Taehyung nods, allowing Yoongi to carefully pull the oversized t-shirt over his head. Yoongi leans in to press soft kisses to the faint bruising along Taehyung’s ribs, moving back up to latch onto his neck, sucking his own mark into the fae’s smooth skin. 

Taehyung gives a soft gasp when Yoongi bites him, tilting his head to the side to give him better access. Yoongi carefully laps up the sweet fae blood, enjoying the subtle buzz in his veins. 

“Careful,” Taehyung laughs, “We don’t want a repeat of the first time. Drunk you is fun, but it’s not the kind of fun I’m after right now,” his voice is soft and breathy, catching every so often as Yoongi drinks. Yoongi laughs against Taehyung’s collarbone, sucking a few more hickeys here and there. 

“And what sort of fun are you after right now, babe?” Yoongi grins, lips stained red with Taehyung’s blood. 

Taehyung grins, rolling his hips into Yoongi’s. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Yoongi gives a gasp, gripping Taehyung’s hips hard enough to leave bruises. “Shit.” 

 

Taemin wanders down the hall, blocking out Taehyung’s stream of babble just enough so he couldn’t hear the thoughts he was having. He definitely did not want to know what was going on. Something buzzes angrily in his pocket and he fishes out the demon cube he had nearly forgotten about. It buzzes at him and Taemin shrugs. He would let the demon out later. Probably. It buzzes as it hears Taemin’s thoughts and Taemin ignores it, shoving it back into his pocket. He would have to check on his pets.

He pulls up the window that would allow him to speak with his pets and waits. If they were free, they would answer. If not, he would just peek in on them. He checks on Yixing first and the healer picks up soon after he’s called.

“Yeah?” Yixing asks, looking sleepily at Taemin.

“You okay? Looking a bit rough,” Taemin says.

“There’s been investigations. You know, because of your brother,”

“Has anyone been caught?”

“No. The siren song gave us a reasonable cover. Plus no one can really be investigated because we’re down two demons, a witch, and a warlock.”

“Well…”

“Yeah yeah, I know you don’t really care. They deserved it blah blah blah. Great. Did you need anything else or do you want to talk with Minseok? I want to go back to bed.”

“Just let me talk with Minseok.”

Yixing rolls over and shoves the lump underneath the covers on the other side of the bed. The lump stirs and sits up to blearily look at Taemin.

“Do you know what time it is?” Minseok asks.

“Do I care?” Taemin says.

“It’s two in the morning.”

“That sucks.”

“I can send you any information you want later. At a more reasonable human time.”

“Good.”

Taemin switches it up and calls Sehun. He gets an angry rainbow haired mess glaring at him. “What.” Sehun demands, not bothering to be quiet since his roommate Minseok was busy with his boyfriend.

Taemin smiles. “Oh good, you’re uninjured.”

“Great.”

Sehun rolls back over and lets Taemin see his back as he pointedly tries to go back to sleep. Taemin shrugs and switches over to Jongin. Unlike the others, he gently wakes him knowing that his roommate is in the room. Jongin answers with his face buried under the covers.

“Yeah?” he whispers, smiling sleepily.

“I just wanted to check in on you,” Taemin says.

“I’m doing fine. Our team was the one that was most heavily looked at, but all of us cleared the inspection.”

“Good.”

“How are you?”

“I’m doing fine. Better now that I’ve checked on you.”

Taemin wants to hit himself for saying something sappy like that. He blames it on residual thoughts from Taehyung. Jongin smiles at him and seems to be falling asleep again so Taemin disconnects the call.

He wanders down to the minimal cells that they have in the base. They’re all magically reinforced with fae and demon magic as well as witch and warlock magic. Out of the two, one was still occupied by Minhyuk.

“Back again?” Minhyuk sneers.

How annoying.

“What are you gonna do this time? I don’t have any powers or information so why are you here again?” Minhyuk says.

Taemin rolls his eyes. What a self absorbed little brat.

“I need this cell, so I’m going to send you on a little vacation.” Taemin says.

“Oh are you?” Minhyuk says.

Taemin grins wickedly before shoving Minhyuk through a portal to the fae realm. It was barely kinder than killing him, but Taemin figured that Minhyuk would at least be useful to whatever fae that found him. Taemin pulls Song Qian from the pocket dimension and puts her in one of the cells and puts Seunghyun in the other. They’re still dazed from their time surrounded by fae magic and Taemin procures a chair to sit and wait. He had plenty of time to deal with them.

 

Hyuk watches as Hongbin as he trains. He had gotten better at actually fighting and using his voodoo powers instead of just taking the hits and rebounding them. Hyuk was proud. And also jealous. Hongbin had been training frequently with Wonshik instead of him. Logically, Hongbin knows that he has no basis for his jealousy but when are emotions ever based on sound reason?

“Man fuck him, he doesn’t even get bruises from training,” Namjoon says.

“Oh boy am I trying,” Hyuk says.

Namjoon gives a polite, yet awkward smile and gets up, trips, and all but runs out of the room. Wonshik is staring over at him in shock and Hyuk feels dread crawling through him as a shadow falls over him. He stares very pointedly at the ground and tries not to notice the voodoo doll in front of him. A finger under his chin lifts his head to meet Hongbin’s eyes.

“Trying what?” Hongbin asks.

“The sexual tension will kill me,” Wonshik drawls.

They break away from each other awkwardly and Hyuk flees the room. Hongbin turns to glare at Wonshik who just shrugs.

 

Daesung wanders into the room where a bunch of members were watching a movie or something. It was a screen, they were paying attention to it, he didn’t really care. Could be a movie, could be a briefing. He forgets why he came into the room. It was something important he thinks. He goes and perches near Jinki and Jinki absently pats his arm as his attention is focused on the screen. Daesung shuffles his tarot deck and tries to remember what he had forgotten. His deck tries to help, but are just as fractured as their master. The meeting around him starts to break up and Jinki smiles at Daesung.

“What are you thinking about?” Jinki asks.

Daesung shrugs and leans into Jinki. Jinki hums as he lets Daesung settle into his lap and Daesung closes his eyes as he listens to Jinki’s song. It was comforting to listen to. Daesung lets himself get lost for awhile, then his memory comes back to him like a slap to the face.

“Jinki!” he says.

“Yeah?” Jinki asks, pausing in his song.

“Taemin is in the basement punishing people. I was supposed to say that earlier,” 

“Let’s find Jung Soo,”

Daesung trails after Jinki, already thinking ahead into the future. Things would come to him in glimpses and then fade as quickly as they came. It’s confusing most of the time, but Jinki helps make him feel like being lost isn’t a bad thing. Besides, the resistance doesn’t really rely too heavily on his predictions anyway. Jung Soo did that. He doesn’t mind. In fact, he thinks it’s nice to be able to float by, only occasionally adding in when he remembers. 

On their way to find Jung Soo they bump into Taekwoon, literally. Daesung bumps shoulders with him, somehow ending up in front of Jinki. Jinki stabilizes him and Taekwoon scowls but it isn’t unfriendly.

“You’ll do. Taemin is torturing someone in the basement and you might want to stop it,” Jinki says.

Taekwoon seems to weigh his options before flitting off to presumably find Hakyeon. When the two vampires get back, they lead the way down to where the cells are and Jinki and Daesung trail after them. They find Taemin standing in front of the two cells with his energy crackling around him. The two in the cells look like they have been through hell and back multiple times and Taemin stretches out a hand towards the cell on the right that holds Seunghyun and the demon screams again as Taemin’s power cuts into him. Shadows are swirling around Taemin and seem to be creeping along the walls. There are a few small creatures that roam around the cell of Song Qian, poking and jabbing at her with spears. Daesung recognizes them as red caps and one of them waves at him as he stares at them inside the cell. Other fae that Daesung doesn’t know the name of are in the cells as well, pressing their red hands against the dripping wounds. Daesung looks away, focusing back on Taemin.

“Taemin?” Jinki asks calmly.

Taemin turns and looks at the group, his eyes a metallic silver that are too bright in the dim dungeons. “What is it? I’m busy.”

Jinki sighs and looks to the side, unwilling to say anything to the ruler of his court especially when he knows it’s futile. Hakyeon hesitantly opens his mouth, “Taemin do you really need to torture them?”

“Yes.” Taemin says, turning his attention back to the cells.

None of them really want to confront the angry fae, so Hakyeon flits off to find Ji Young in the hopes he can calm him down. Ji Young is reluctant to even approach Taemin.

“Taemin, leave them be. Just kill them and leave them,” Ji Young says at the vampire’s prompting.

Taemin turns and looks at them again, looking almost disappointed in them.

“Ji Young, you should know what happens to those who stand against the Courts. Especially mine. Leave and take them with you. None of this gets spoken of to my brother, understand?” Taemin says lowly.

Ji Young dips into a bow that is mimicked by Jinki. “As you command, my Prince,” they chorus.

The fae forcibly escort the others out with set expressions and the chorus of screaming prisoners fades behind them as they get further away.

“It’s best if you let him finish what he’s started. It was not a light insult to the Courts,” Ji Young says as means of apologizing as they go back upstairs. 

Daesung laughs, which shocks everyone, and he looks up at Jinki. “That girl Song Qian went home,” he says.

“What do you mean?” Hakyeon asks.

“Well she’s not dead,” Jinki says.

“Yet,” Ji Young mutters.

That seems to be the only explanation the fae are willing to give and they wander off as if they didn’t just witness two people being tortured. Taekwoon tugs on Hakyeon and pulls him in the direction of their shared room.

“Come on, it isn’t worth messing with the fae,” Taekwoon says.

“He’ll kill them.” Hakyeon says, looking over his shoulder with a pensive frown. 

“And they tortured a faery prince. That seer knew exactly who Taehyung is and went ahead with her plan to torture him anyway.” 

Hakyeon purses his lips, obviously not liking it despite the truth of the situation. Taekwoon presses a kiss to his temple and gives him a small smile.

“I know you don’t like it, but stop worrying about it. It’s not your place to worry,” he says.

“It is too my job.” Hakyeon pouts.

“Not tonight,”

Taekwoon winds his fingers in Hakyeon’s hair and smiles down at him.

“What else do you plan to do?” Hakyeon asks, feigning innocence.

Hakyeon’s head is tilted back and Taekwoon presses light kisses down his throat. Hakyeon’s breath catches and Taekwoon grins.

“Maybe we should go back,” Hakyeon says, trying to finish his sentence without losing his train of thought.

“Back?” Taekwoon asks, rolling his hips forward.

“Now,” Hakyeon growls.

It’s a blur as Hakyeon pulls him into their bedroom and practically tears through their clothing.

“I liked that sweater,” Taekwoon mutters even as Hakyeon is biting and kissing his way down his chest.

“I’ll buy you another one,” Hakyeon says as he comes back up to claim Taekwoon’s mouth.

 

The government base seems quieter. Losing several members has put everyone in a somber mood and it seems to spread, seeping throughout the space and dimming everything. Jongin and Junmyun feel the difference the most. There’s an air of distrust surrounding the pair, stemming from their close relationship with Taehyung - now referred to only as “V” - and even though they clear their inspection, no one seems to care. It has yet to be disclosed exactly what happened in that cell. Rumors are flying. Some think that Taehyung went rogue and killed Kyung and kidnapped Jeongguk and Song Qian. Others are saying that he was a spy sent to kill as many of the government minions as he could. Most didn’t really care. Taehyung was a passing influence on their lives. He wasn’t a part of their unit and thus didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. The only thing they know is that Taehyung is a traitor and his unit - Jongin and Junmyun - clearly couldn’t be innocent. They spent the most time with the traitor, they must have seen something. 

Jongin avoids as many people as he can. He spends a bunch of his time in the training rooms that most people don’t use because the equipment is outdated. To his surprise, he finds his normal spot occupied by Sehun. He’s running through the normal training warm up and was intensely focused. Of course, the focus could come from the fact that he was currently using his powers to keep himself suspended a couple hundred feet off the floor. Jongin coughs to get his attention and Sehun smiles as he takes notice of him and lowers himself to the ground.

“Hey what’s up?” Sehun asks.

“You changed your hair,” Jongin says.

Sehun’s hands go to where his hair is a black shade that glints blue in the light.

“Oh, yeah. I did,” Sehun says.

“I like it,” Jongin reassures him.

They fall into an easy training pattern, knowing each other’s habits well enough that they don’t have to talk. They’re the only two in there for the entire two hours they’re training and it’s almost relaxing to not have to deal with the stares and whispers that Jongin normally gets from the people around base.

“So are you okay with all of this?” Sehun asks.

Jongin gives him a smile that’s all Taemin.

“I’m fine. It’s the others you should worry about. I’m not going to let them influence me,” Jongin says.


	9. the weak get devoured

The headache starts off small, just an annoying thing really, and Taehyung tries to ignore it as he gives feedback to the people who are training. It gets worse with each passing minute, head pounding with his heartbeat. Ji Young takes over for him and he heads back towards his room, squinting slightly. He stumbles a bit and clutches his head. The pain is blinding and a surge of panic races through Taehyung’s veins. No no no. It couldn’t be happening again. The seal had been broken. Everything was fine. But it wasn’t. Because his head felt like it was going to split open and tears were forming. It hurt so much, just like the way it hurt before. He stumbles into the closest room, his panic dampening his ability to control his powers. 

_ Taemin? _ He calls out, fear curling in his gut that there might not be an answer. 

The pain seems to double and he curls up into a defensive ball, letting out a choked sob. 

 

It’s not everyday that Young Bae sees one of the leaders of the organization. And it’s definitely not when one of them comes into his room. It’s Taehyung and he’s looking a bit worse for the wear. Despite the fact that he’s radiating light and warmth, his eyes are red rimmed and tear stained and his expression is set into a pained grimace. 

“Taehyung?” Young Bae asks as he gets up off his bed.

The faerie collapses in the middle of the room and a small storm starts to swirl around him. Young Bae knows it’s magic, and he probably shouldn’t get near him, but he obviously needs help. It’s starting to hurt to look at him, like having a sun in the room, but Young Bae pushes towards him against the magic that was obviously trying to keep him away. He gets close, nearly within reach, when he’s blown back against the wall and crumples to the floor. He stares up at the ceiling, only feeling pain really which is something new, and god does it hurt to breathe. He becomes aware of someone gently slapping his cheeks. It takes him awhile to focus on them, but when he does he recognizes them as Daesung. 

“Can you walk?” he asks.

His eyes are clear and focused which is something he hasn’t seen ever.

“What?” Young Bae says.

“Jinki! I can’t lift him on my own,” Daesung says.

Jinki walks over to them and helps him hoist Young Bae up. They begin walking towards the door and it’s excruciating. Young Bae just barely catches a glimpse of a shadow covered figure as the door shuts behind them.

“We need to get him to the med wing,” Daesung says.

“You are one incredibly stupid being,” Jinki says as he looks down at Young Bae.

 

Taemin pushes towards his brother, letting his own power expand to combat Taehyung’s out of control powers. He reaches him and gently uncurls him from his defensive ball. Taehyung is sobbing as he clings to him and Taemin smooths down his unruly hair that has gone a flat shade of brown.

“It’s okay Tae tae, I’m here,” Taemin repeats over and over, both outloud and through their mindlink until Taehyung can hear him again.

Calming Taehyung is a process. The easiest step is to get him to drop his defenses. His brother is there and he’ll be safe. The hardest part is waiting for the pain to end. It seems to come and go in waves. Just when Taemin thinks everything is okay the pain starts up again. It doesn’t seem like there’s any end in sight and Taemin makes his decision. 

“I’m taking you home. Back to the fae realm,” Taemin says flatly.

He ignores his brother’s weak protests and opens the portal. The minute they step into the faerie realm, Taemin knows that something is very, very wrong. He can feel the thrumming energy from the fae around him as they step into the High Court, but there aren’t any faeries inside the hall which would normally be crowded. It was the boundary between Seelie and Unseelie, neutral space for any faerie and it definitely shouldn’t be as deserted as it was. Taemin pulls Taehyung along as they both make their way towards the throne room where their father should be. Instead of their father is an empty throne and their father’s frazzled looking advisor.

“What happened?” Taemin demands.

The advisor shrinks away from his venomous tone but answers all the same, “Your father… is gone. He went with the Wild Hunt.”

Taemin’s shock rebounds through Taehyung as they hear the news.

“Taeminnie…” Taehyung starts.

This was bad, worse than Taemin thought it could be. One ruler could make do in an emergency, like their father had since their mother had passed, but without any rulers it was anarchy. Taemin squeezes Taehyung’s hand reassuringly.

“It’ll be okay, Tae tae. We’ll figure it out,” Taemin says.

“The courts have gone wild,” their father’s advisor says.

He’s wringing his hands and Taemin is reminded why he dislikes the advisor. Too much worrying, not enough action.

“I’m calling the faeries home,” Taemin says.

“I’m going to help you,” Taehyung says.

“No. It’ll take too much energy.”

“I’m going to help you.”

They glare at each other for a brief second before Taemin gives in.

“Okay, fine.” Taemin says.

Taehyung grins grimly at him, jaw still set in lingering pain, much better now that he’s home. He links his fingers with Taemin and rolls his shoulders. “Let’s get this over with.” 

 

Everyone is cheerfully enjoying dinner, trying to ignore the gaping absence that the two faerie princes leave behind. The peaceful meal is suddenly interrupted when official looking seals appear midair in front of all the faeries in the room. The one in front of Jinki is wispy and shadowy, mirrored by a wispy light one in front of Ji Young. The faeries all look at their respective seals with a mix of horror and deadly seriousness.

“Sorry, but we’ll be leaving,” Jinki says. 

He gently pushes Daesung away from him before reaching out to grab the seal and disappearing. The other faeries follow suit and the rest are left staring at empty table placings. Daesung looks shell shocked, dropping his silverware and curling up into a ball. The others try and go back to their meal, ignoring the best they can the way Daesung stares around him. When Yoongi gets up to leave the table, everyone is startled that Daesung follows suit. Yoongi looks uncomfortable when Daesung follows him, clinging onto his arm.

“What’s going on?” Yoongi snaps, lifting his arm and glaring at the way Daesung’s fingers curl around his bicep.

“You have traces of fae magic. He’s addicted to it and you’re the only one left here with it,” Jung Soo explains.

They leave the two alone with shrugs and Wonshik pats Yoongi on the shoulder with a sympathetic look.

“It’s only until they come back, I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Wonshik says.

 

All of the faeries that had been in the human world arrive soon after they’re summoned. The advisors are solemn as they appear, knowing already that it won’t be good news they’ll hear.

“The old king has fallen,” Taemin says. “We’re going to have to reorganize the courts.”

The advisors nod and Ji Young goes to Taehyung’s side. Taemin hugs Taehyung briefly before turning to go to his court. He pauses beside Ji Young.

“Taehyung needs to heal. The court also needs to be rebuilt, which means you need to help him with both. If you mess this up, I will make what I did to that demon look like child’s play,” Taemin says.

The advisor goes pale as Taemin gives him a broad smile. On Taehyung that smile looked friendly, but on Taemin it was threatening. Taemin continues on, leaving Ji Young shaken and very, very afraid.

 

The Seelie court is in mourning, making it almost easy to organize. The Fae while still unruly were still in a state of shock. Most simply swore fealty to Taehyung simply to be able to move on with their lives and leave the realm if they wished. Ji Young oversaw that. The new king only really dealt with the few he didn’t want to swear fealty to him. He didn’t seem like much when confronting them. Still weaker than normal, he was unusually pale. However he still seemed to glow, and a wreath of flowers adorned his blond hair, full of color and in bloom.

The few fae who refused to swear fealty quickly learn that while Taehyung seems weak and innocent, he’s just as ruthless and cunning as his father. Not even at his full strength and he leaves an impression, one that is sure to be spread throughout the realm. Not many would cross Taehyung simply because of his brother, but stepping into the role of ruler of the Seelie court he proves that he doesn’t necessarily  _ need _ his brothers protection. 

Staring down at the faery that Ji Young had brought before him, Taehyung circles. His cloak that seemed to be made of light whispers as it drags across the grass filled room. His gaze is considering and predatory. 

“My advisor here says you refuse to swear fealty to me. Why?” His voice lilts, almost singsong but it holds a dark edge to it, seeming to crackle like lightning in a storm. 

The faery pales, looking steadfastly at the earth before her. 

“You know,” Taehyung says conversationally, “I have a reputation for being kind. Almost to the point where people think that I can be walked all over. But the thing is I’m really not that patient. And my patience is running thin.” 

The faery flinches at Taehyung’s touch on her chin. The king forces her head up and glares at her. His eyes are bright and golden and in any other circumstance the faery would say they were beautiful. But here they were terrifying. 

“You wouldn’t want me to lose my temper would you?” 

The faery shivers and shakes her head. “No my lord.” 

“In that case. Make this easy. Swear fealty or I will have to force you.” 

There was a beat and Taehyung sighs. He grips her head in his hands and allows his control to slip. 

“You have one last chance to swear your loyalty to me before I blind you.” He says, looking at the faery’s determined face. 

He sighs softly and grits his teeth as he burns her. Her screams echo around the clearing and the few fae who had been listening flinch, listening to her sob out her oath to Taehyung. 

“That wasn’t so hard now was it?” He says, honey in his voice and a smile on his lips. 

He waits until the sobbing girl is dragged out of the clearing before slumping against a wall. He groans softly, rubbing his temples. He hadn’t even needed to bring out his father’s whip but still his head pounds and he can feel the onset of another migraine for the exertion it took. 

Ji Young materializes by his side, “You did well. I’ll take care of the rest. Go.” 

Taehyung doesn’t bother fighting his advisor, just nods, “If you find another who refuses call me. I’ll deal with it.” 

Ji Young raises a brow and opens his mouth to protest. 

“If I don’t take care of it, they won’t think I can when it matters. You know this.” 

“You need to rest. To heal.” Ji Young says firmly. “If you don’t it’ll only get worse for you. Showing a strong face is important, yes. But so is your health. How would Taemin react if he saw you pushing yourself like this?” 

Taehyung sighs heavily, knowing that Taemin would probably kill him. “I know. But it has to be done. I’ll rest for now.” And with that the king vanishes, retreating to his room.

 

There’s a knock at Taehyung’s door and he sighs, calling a soft come in.

A tall faery stands at attention. Soft, androgynous features are settled into a polite smile, “The rest of the rowan men have been assembled.” 

“Thank you Kilian.” 

The leader of the rowan men nods, “Orders?” 

“I don’t have the time to deal with resistance personally. Get a small team together to find those who don’t want to swear loyalty to me and bring them to Ji Young. He’ll deal with them on my behalf.” 

“Of course.” The fae’s voice is soft. 

“Then once that is taken care of you’ll join me in the human realm to assist with the resistance.”

Kilian nods, long hair falling into their eyes. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay near you. Just in case.” 

Taehyung sizes up the faery. “I think that would be a wise choice.” 

Nodding again Kilian leaves to relay the orders and Taehyung puts his head down on his desk. 

The rowan men had been fixtures in the court for as long as Taehyung could remember. They only answered the the current ruler of the Seelie court and Taehyung had hoped it would be a long time before he needed to take command. 

He understands why Taemin likes the hounds so much now. It’s nice to be able to delegate and have a warrior to take care of things. Ji Young helps so much as it is, but he can’t do everything and he’s not a warrior. So far his transition has been smooth enough he hadn’t needed the help at all, but with things becoming rocky he’d finally called on them. Hopefully they would help maintain stability and allow him to return to the mortal realm. However, only time would tell and until he’s sure, Taehyung will remain in his home realm. 

 

Taemin strolls into the darkened halls of the Unseelie court palace with Jinki and the Gabriel Hounds by his side. The enter the throne room where he takes the throne. It’s all ceremony the way the dark thorn crown materializes onto his head, just a way of officially claiming the throne as his. The Hounds bow to him and await orders. A weak king could never rule the Unseelie Court, and now Taemin would have to settle the court after millennia of them not having a ruler. He remembers his mother, how her smile was like sunshine as she had explained how her court would belong to him one day. This probably wasn’t what she had had in mind, but this was what Taemin had got.

“Punish those who don’t obey. They will all swear loyalty to me. Let’s get to work,” Taemin says.

It isn’t an easy job, and exactly none of the fae want to submit. Taemin does his best to control the border, starting another war wasn’t exactly on his to do list, but the Unseelie still want to fight. It was an opportunity to gain more land with a weak king just barely starting to take control of the Seelie court. Taemin knows that as Taehyung heals the opportunity will fade and then that particular worry could be off his plate. He has most of the court sworn to him, occasionally breaking a few limbs to have cooperation, but it’s going way better than he had hoped. His mother had, after all, been one of the best rulers and Taemin had been taught all her secrets. His father didn’t know them and Taehyung definitely hadn’t been told them. Just secrets between his mom and him he thinks cheerily as he breaks a fae’s arm in his grasp. Power was the one sure thing that Unseelie respected and Taemin had plenty. The faerie pledges loyalty to Taemin as he gasps and sobs through the pain and Taemin pats him on the head.

“That wasn’t so hard, now was it?” Taemin says.

He’s glad that it’s easy to know where faerie loyalty lies. Once they swear fealty, he knows and their lives fall under his jurisdiction and they absolutely can’t disobey an order. Most of the court is his, with just a small group that refuses. It’s a small group of maybe seventy or eighty faeries that just flat out refuse to swear to him. Their leader is a gancanagh whose name Taemin doesn’t know, or care to know really, and he’s being a real pain in the ass. It would take time and effort to set his group straight. He finds one of the small scouts for the group and Taemin wears the same sunny smile that is characteristic of his brother as he impales the faery off the ground on cold iron. 

“You know, I’m actually being fairly nice here. Yet you want to try my patience and I really don’t appreciate it,” Taemin says.

He reawakens the memory of his mother as he uses her tactics to draw information out of the dying faerie. Before it can completely fade, the hounds take it to the cells deep in the heart of the castle. What better way to send a message than to use the messenger themselves? Jinki gives him a grim smile as he reports back from the far side of the realm. The small group had been branded as traitors and even the most unruly fae were willing to turn them in rather than face Taemin. It was progress even as slow as it was, but the court was still brimming with energy. If they weren’t allowed to fight with the Seelie they needed a new outlet and Taemin wasn’t exactly sure that sending them after the traitors was going to be enough. Still, he gives the orders and the traitor hunt begins. He drags his mother’s old iron sword out of where she had left it. He catches a glimpse of himself in one of the long hall mirrors. His bright silver eyes look more sunken than he remembers and shadows freely swirl around him. The crown glints from its place on his head and the cape pools around him, drifting in wind from nowhere. He sighs heavily.

“Jinki?” he asks.

“Yes?” Jinki asks, coming to stand beside him.

“Will you go check on them?”

“Are you worried?”

“A bit.”

Jinki wraps his arms around Taemin and leans his head against his shoulder. 

“Don’t worry,” Jinki says and his words seem to swirl around him.

Taemin recognizes the tone of voice and shakes off the glamour that’s trying to wrap around him.

“What have I said about using that tone?” Taemin asks.

“For the bedroom and the battlefield only, not in general conversation,” Jinki pouts.

He spins away from Taemin and gives him a wide smile.

“I’ll try and remember that,” he says.

“Jinki!” Taemin chides as his advisor disappears.

Taemin rolls his eyes and shifts the sword as he heads out. Weren’t advisors supposed to be the older, wiser faeries?

 

Daesung finds solstice at Taemin’s club. He enjoys sitting in the back room that had once been occupied by all of the fae and their pets. Now, only the pets were left. Daesung isn’t the only one but he’s the one that had been chosen by a higher class fae and that made him a leader of some sort. They were all suffering from the lack of contact with any of the fae. He guessed in a way they were drug addicts. He likes the burst of clarity he has, but doesn’t know how long it’ll last this time. He spreads out his deck onto the table in front of him and stares down at the cards. Then he forgets what he was looking for. He slams his hands down on the table in frustration. He wanted Jinki back. Things were always better when Jinki was there. Where was he? He looks around the club where other people are lying in various states of consciousness. What had happened to them? Why was he here? He looks down to where his tarot cards are spread out on the table. Ah yes, he had been wondering where the fae had gone.

The doors to the secluded room suddenly burst open and everyone’s heads turn towards the sound. Jinki strolls into the room with shadows clinging to his skin and a broad smile on his face. Immediately those that are capable of moving head towards him, addicts desperately trying to get a fix after they’ve been denied for so long.

“How disgusting,” Jinki laughs, roughly pushing away a man before he can touch him.

His voice soothes everyone in the room and he pulls Daesung out of his seat.

“Did you miss me?” Jinki asks.

“Of course I did,” Daesung says.

Daesung feels complete again as he wraps his arms around Jinki. Jinki pats him on the head and begins leading him away.

“Let’s go check on the others, shall we?” Jinki says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the story of how we actually started this. once upon a time, taessmile asked me what i thought of taehyung being a fae and that reminded me of how some people call taemin a faery prince. then we both wondered hmm, what if they were twins? and thus this fic was born. thank you so much for reading!  
> -B


	10. you're going to be a witness to change

Taehyung knew it was bound to happen. The PCU would get curious over how much it would take to take down the resistance and would try to test them. So when he wakes to Yoongi cursing into his ear as if he were there, he knows that the PCU just decided to play a game. 

He leaves the fae realm without worry, Ji Young and the rowan men will take care of everything for the moment and he can help the resistance. Kilian follows him, along with about three rowan men. 

The fighting is contained in a small ghost town. Taehyung can see at least two teams from the PCU. They were just slightly outnumbering the resistance and Taehyung grinned. Time to turn the tide. 

He darts between Namjoon and his opponent, gently tapping the vampire’s forehead and letting him drop to the ground. “Time to kick it into gear Namjoon.” He teases before vanishing to the opposite side of the town. 

Taehyung recognizes Baekhyun and Chanyeol from HQ and grins. He drops behind them, poking them in the sides and darting away. 

“Taehyung?” Chanyeol asks incredulously. 

“The one and only,” he smirks, snapping his fingers and watching Chanyeol fall. 

Baekhyun swears, throwing up blinding light as he kneels next to his boyfriend. “What did you do?”

“Sleeping spell. It’ll wear off in a few hours.” Taehyung says, not even squinting at the light and laughing. 

“What are you?”

Taehyungh scoffs. “Rude. Take me to dinner first.” 

Baekhyun rushes forward to tackle him and Taehyung teleports behind him. “Did training with me and Jongin teach you nothing?”

“Vampire?”

“Nope. How many vampires do you know that can teleport?” 

“Werewolf?”

“Now you’re just being intentionally stupid.” Taehyung sighs, “And I had such high hopes for you being a light user.” 

Baekhyun’s form seems to shudder and vanish and Taehyung giggles. “Oh bending light. Good one.” 

Taehyung just looks at his fingernails for a moment before darting after Baekhyun. 

“Unfortunately for you, there’s more to fighting than just  _ seeing _ your opponent.”  

Baekhyun slumps to the floor when Taehyung touches him, putting him to sleep. As he sleeps he returns to visibility and Taehyung smiles fondly. 

Three down, four more to go. 

Hongbin and Hyuk are holding their own against Kyuhyun and Donghae so Taehyung passes over them, going instead to help Hoseok against a werewolf code named - if Taehyung remembered correctly - TOP. 

“Honey, I’m home,” he calls and Hoseok grins, muttering something that sounds suspiciously like “get fucked.”g

He wraps an arm around Hoseok’s waist as he bops the wolf on it’s snout. “Bad dog.”

The wolf growls and Taehyung growls back before blowing in it’s face. It coughs and then curls up, whining once before closing it’s eyes. 

Luna is glaring up at the tall incubus looming over her. He smirks, and Luna punches him across the face. Clearly she was doing fine. Back to flirting with Hoseok it was. 

Hoseok’s cheeks are flushed and Taehyung practically coos at the sight. 

“So, Yoongi and I -” He gets cut off by the sound of Hyuk swearing loudly and he sighs, turning to witness his brother appearing and punching Kyuhyun in the face, dropping him like a sack of potatoes. 

“I’ve had a really really bad-oh,” Taemin’s mouth curls up into a smile as he looks at Hongbin and Hyuk who are both sweating due to battle.

He leans forward to whisper something in Hyuk’s ear that has him sputtering and blushing furiously. Taemin laughs as he leans back on his heels.

“But really, it has been a bad day. Some rebels got away and that means I have to go back,” Taemin pouts. “But I’m here for now. Shall we go back?”

 

The thing that makes Sehun finally snap is when he gets tasered by one of the human officers for making a sudden movement towards him during training. Of course he would be moving quickly. That was the point. And no one was supposed to have real weapons during training but when he reports this to the supervisor he’s brushed off. Because he’s supernatural.

“That’s it,” Sehun says.

He gets caught as he sets fire to one of the records rooms that’s in the basement of the building. It’s not enough to use his wind power to create a tornado because he doesn’t want to risk hurting any of the rest of his brethren. The room he abolishes just so happens to hold all of the recent files the PCU had been collecting. Once they can actually get ahold of him and put him in anti-magic cuffs, he’s marched onto the main floor by armed guards and holds his cuffed hands above his head and in plain view. He can see the crowd gathering, the faces of his brethren tight with worry, not understanding why he’s acting the way he is. He does probably the worst thing for the situation, he laughs. It’s not just a small laugh, it’s nearly insane the way he almost doubles over with laughter. He must be starting to take after the fae.

“Catch me if you can PCU!” he shouts.

There’s a swirl of shadows that envelop him, then he’s gone. Chaos descends on the remaining members of the PCU. Jongin stares in shock at the place where Sehun had disappeared. What had he been thinking?

 

The door flies open and Taehyung lifts his head to glare at the door. 

“Wakey wakey,” Hoseok chimes, “There’s a meeting and you’re needed.” 

Taehyung pouts sleepily and buries his head back into Yoongi’s chest. The other man had barely stirred at the disturbance but hums softly at Taehyung’s touch. “No.” 

“That’s my line,” Yoongi slurs. 

“Not anymore,” Taehyung grumps, peeking out from the covers to peer at Hoseok. 

He smiles sheepishly, “Jung Soo said you really need to be there. I have to find Taemin too.”

“Good luck with that.” he squints. “How are you so smiley?” 

Hoseok freezes, “I just am?” it comes out as a question. 

“You know. I’m supposed to be the literal personification of sunshine, but right now you’re giving me a run for my money,” Taehyung mumbles, tucking himself closer to Yoongi.

Awkwardly, Hoseok stands by the door. He hadn’t planned on being the one to wake Taehyung when he’d left early in the morning (covered in hickeys, but details) so he wasn’t really sure if he could sass the faery king.   

“Either join in on the cuddles or leave,” Yoongi says, prying his eyes open to look at Hoseok with a measured gaze. 

“He left early because he had to do things baby, he can’t cuddle right now. But later tonight…” Taehyung hums, smiling gently at Hoseok.

Hoseok flushes, “Please be at the meeting,” he pleads before running away. 

 

Hoseok throws open the door to Hyuk and Hongbin’s shared room, intent on waking them up. One of the beds is neatly made and the other has a lump in it.

“Time to get up! Jung Soo wants a meeting!” Hoseok sings.

“Fuck off Taehyung it’s too early.” someone grumbles from under the covers.

There’s only one person who would be able to speak to a faery king like that.

“Wait, Taemin?” Hoseok asks.

The dark haired mess that is Taemin sits up and frowns at him as not one, but two others sit up in the bed alongside him. Hyuk squawks as he notices Hoseok in the doorway and pulls the covers over himself to hide the bruises that littered his body. Taemin seems to realize that Hoseok is still standing there and runs his hands through his hair.

“Wanna join in? We could go another round,” Taemin says. “Did you know that if you bite one, bruises show up on the other?”

Hoseok chokes a bit as the fae wags his eyebrows at him.

“Your brother beat you to it, so no?” he chokes out.

“It isn’t official,” Taemin snaps before abruptly disappearing.

Hoseok bites his lip and mutters, “It will be tonight.” 

Hyuk coughs awkwardly and says something to Hongbin that Hoseok doesn’t catch.

“I’m naked, so unless you want a show would you mind closing the door?” Hongbin says.

“Ah right, sorry.” With that Hoseok turns away, shutting the door firmly behind them. 

 

The meeting is going well by Hakyeon’s standards. Everyone is present, even if two people are covered in hickeys, and mostly awake. That is, until a fae comes in, dragging another behind him. 

“Apologies my lord.” He says softly, “But this one is being extremely persistent.” 

Taehyung perks up, “What’s the issue?”

“Loyalty. He doesn’t want to swear fealty.” 

Taehyung rubs his temples, glaring down at the faery Kilian had dragged in. “Well?” he snaps, “What do you have to say for yourself?” 

The faery spits at Taehyung and his scowl deepens. Taemin’s eyebrows raise and he laces his fingers together as he leans forward.

“You’re not fit to be king,” the faery snaps. 

Taemin bites his lip and leans back, watching his brother’s collected face. 

“Why is that?” 

“What?”

“Why am I unfit to be king? Answer wisely.” Taehyung warns.

The faery scowls, “You’re weak, useless and a disappointment to this court.” 

Taehyung raises his brows leaning forward. “What court? You haven’t sworn fealty to me, so you belong nowhere.” 

The faery spits again, this time spraying Taehyung’s face. He sighs, wipes it off. 

“You’re father would be disappointed in you.”

Taehyung stiffens, face oddly calm as he stands. He grips the faery’s head in his hands, “I warned you to answer wisely,” he murmurs as she starts screaming. 

“Stop stop please.” 

“You’ve made your point spectacularly, now you must suffer the punishment of disloyalty.” Taehyung says, meeting the faery’s gaze and digging his fingers into her cheeks and grinning as his fingers break the skin. “You can’t be allowed to keep your sanity, that just won’t do.” 

The faery sobs, clawing at his hands and Taehyung just squeezes tighter until she whimpers. When all sounds stop he sighs and drops her to the floor. “Kilian, clean up this mess and have her taken to the reformery.” 

He sits back down, cleaning the blood off his fingertips with a handkerchief and smiles, “Apologies, where were we?” 

“In a meeting,” Taemin says unhelpfully.

Taehyung rolls his eyes. 

Hakyeon changes his mind. This is not a good meeting. Time to leave the room and try again tomorrow. 


	11. there's no reason to be calm and orderly

“You will all be sent out in force to bring Sehun back to us so that he can stand trial,” Heechul says.

Junmyun is calm for all of three seconds.

“IF YOU FUCKING THINK THAT I WOULD JUST GO AND TURN MY BACK ON MY LITTLE SEHUN YOU ARE MISTAKEN YOU FUCKERS,” Junmyun screams.

A human unit moves in with tasers to bring him to the containment unit. Junmyun thrashes against them and kicks out, clinging to any solid piece of furniture that he can in order to slow them down.

“JONGDAE I SWEAR TO GOD! DO SOMETHING!” Junmyun screeches.

The rest of them all watch with wide eyes as Junmyun is forcibly removed.

“Now that he’s gone, do any of the rest of you want to join him?” Heechul asks.

 

Jongdae calmly goes with the government team to go after Sehun. What the government isn’t expecting is how much the resistance steps up to stop them from reaching Sehun. Jongdae is impressed.

“Alright Jongdae, bring them to their knees,” Siwon commands.

“Fuck off,” Jongdae says.

Electricity courses through him and a lightning bolt arches from him to electrocute Siwon. Siwon drops to his knees before crumpling the rest of the way and Jongdae steps over him to head towards where the government forces and the resistance forces are fighting the most. He spots a familiar head among the throng of people and forces his way until he’s at Taehyung’s side.

“Where’s Sehun?” Jongdae demands.

“Safe,” Taehyung promises, opening a portal to show Sehun running through the crowd. “Sehun, get your ass back to base.” 

“Sorry, running I can’t hear you.”

“Sehun you little shit,” Taehyung growls as Sehun ducks under someone’s arms. 

Sehun waves a hand through the portal and it vanishes. 

“See, he’s fine.” 

“That’s not fine!” 

Taehyung rolls his eyes. “Well, you  _ could _ go help him.” 

Jongdae narrows his eyes. “I will.” 

“Good,” Taehyung smiles at him and shoves him through a portal so he’s right next to Sehun before turning back to the fighting.  

 

Taemin throws out a hand and his shadow responds, throwing up a shield around Sehun before the bullets can reach him. Sehun sends him a grateful smile and continues on his way. Taemin turns from him and heads after another member of the PCU, grateful he’s wearing black so no one can see him bleeding. They might all think that he was transporting the bullets elsewhere, or dissolving them like Taehyung could do with light, but his shadow magic didn’t work like that. Instead, he takes the injuries for them. He didn’t know how to make a real shield, not like his mother had known, so this was the best he could do. He takes a bullet that was headed for Jongin’s back, one that would’ve torn through Hyuk’s arm, one that was destined for Namjoon, and three iron ones that should’ve been for Taehyung. He stumbles a bit, but none of the fae see that, wipes the blood that trickles out of his mouth, and takes on Siwon.

Taemin is too slow to dodge his shot and takes it in the chest and this one seems to be the last one he can take as he falls to the ground, barriers he had put up in his mind crumbling and opening communication with Taehyung again. Siwon stands over him and the gun is pointed right in the middle of his forehead. Taemin arches up, ignoring the pain in his abdomen, and presses his forehead against the barrel of the gun.

“Bye bye,” he says cheerily.

 

Taehyung feels more than sees Taemin fall. The impact resonates in his chest and he screams. He uncoils the golden whip on his hip and it crackles with electricity. He flicks it once, twice before it wraps around the offending enemy. The whip burns on contact and Taehyung yanks Siwon closer to him, completely ignoring his pained cries. Taehyung bares his teeth in a dark imitation of his smile. He doesn’t bother with pleasantries as he shoves his arm into Siwon’s chest. Heat radiates from his arm and Siwon whimpers in pain. 

“You never learn,” Taehyung growls, blood dripping down his arm and staining the light colored shirt he’d worn. “You deserve so much worse than this.” His lip curls, “And to think I was going to let you live.” 

Taehyung jerks away, flicking blood off of his hand and shoving Siwon away. Taemin groans as he curls in on himself.

“I’m fine,” Taemin groans out, propping himself up on his elbows. “Just fine,” he hisses out through clenched teeth.

Taehyung rushes to his brother’s side, “Taeminnie, what were you thinking?” 

“Thinking? Mostly  _ ouch _ why do you ask?”

Taehyung clenches his jaw and scowls, “I know you think you’re being subtle.” Taemin tries to hide a wince and Taehyung’s scowl deepens. “We’re going home.” 

“I’m fine, I’ll be fine,” Taemin says.

Jinki seems to materialize from nowhere, cradling Taemin in his arms.

“We’re going home,” Jinki snarls, arms tightening around him.

Taehyung locks eyes with Jinki, “Take him home. I’m going to clean up this mess.” 

Jinki disappears with a protesting Taemin.

Taking a deep bracing breath, Taehyung turns to Ji Young. “Make sure all of ours are gone before I take care of this. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt who doesn’t deserve it.” 

As soon as the all clear is sounded, he smiles sharply, targeting the few remaining humans. A few broken limbs and crippling wounds per human sounds fair to him. He doesn’t want to  _ kill  _ them. The man he wants dead is already - regretfully - dead, but he wants to make sure they think twice before hurting those he cares about. Distantly, he hears the sound of a gun go off and he frowns. No bullet flies his way and he dismisses it. 

Surveying the damage done by his rampage Taehyung nods in bitter satisfaction. The anger doesn’t fade, but he leaves returning to the base to check up on the resistance, knowing Taemin is in good hands. 

  
  


Jinki had gently put him on the giant bed and had told him to  _ stay put no matter what _ . If he was feeling any better, he would’ve brushed it off and gone right back to the human world. As it was, however, he could barely move. The iron bullets must be starting to take their toll. He lets out a bored sigh and stares up at the ceiling. There was nothing to do here when you couldn’t move. A half forgotten memory strikes him and he fishes around in his pocket. He pulls out a demon cube that’s still glowing, a good sign, and tosses it into the air. A flash of light later and someone falls out onto the bed in a heap.

“Yay! You’re not dead!” Taemin says cheerily.

“No one wants to go to hell,” Jeongguk grumbles, dusting himself off and surveying his surroundings. “Where the fuck am I?”

“You’re in the fae realm. Specifically inside of my room.”

Jeongguk nods, “Guess I can’t get any crazier than I already am,” he sighs. “Your room is very… different than I would have thought for a fae prince.” 

“I’m called the prince of nightmares. If you want sunshine and flowers, that’s Taehyung.”

The demon nods, stretching as awkward silence filled the air. The door bursts open and it’s Jinki, carrying medical supplies.

“Taemin I do hope that-” he breaks off as he stares at Jeongguk. “ _ What _ is  _ that _ ?”

“ _ That _ is Jeongguk, he’s a demon that I brought back from the government,” Taemin says.

Jeongguk curls into himself slightly. Ordinarily he wouldn’t be intimidated but he was on the fae’s turf and he was not looking to get sent back to hell today. Jinki sniffs but continues towards the bed, dumping the medical supplies onto Jeongguk’s lap.

“As long as he behaves himself I’m sure that I won’t have to do anything rash like send him back to hell or trap him in eternal torture,” Jinki says cheerily, setting to work digging out the bullets from Taemin’s chest.

Taemin hisses in pain but Jinki continues until every bullet is out.

“Now can I get up?” Taemin asks.

Jinki glares down at him. “No.”

“Why not?”

“This is your punishment for doing something stupid.”

“What makes you think you can stop me from getting up?”

“While I would feel bad, I will break your legs to keep you from getting out of that bed. Stay put. Entertain yourself with that demon.”

 

“Taehyung did you kill anyone else on the field?” Jung Soo asks.

“No. I only killed Siwon, the human who shot my brother. Everyone else I just injured - sidelined them.” Taehyung says immediately. 

“Well the PCU is telling quite a different story. And they’re blaming it on your brother,” Hakyeon says grimly, turning the laptop so everyone else could see the news story.

“I don’t understand. Why would they blame Taeminnie? I sent him away.”

“No one really saw that. Just a few were left,” Taekwoon says quietly.

Taehyung shakes his head. “But all the evidence would point to me. I’m the traitor. I was the one who killed Siwon. Everyone saw that.” 

“But he’s the bigger threat. He’s the bad guy they’ve been chasing all this time and now they have everyone afraid of him. It’ll be easy to convince the human public to turn away from us now.” Sun Young says.

Taehyung swears. “No one else tells him about this alright? It’s either gotta be me or Jinki.”

“He’s gonna be pissed,” Sehun says quietly. “And he has ears everywhere so what makes you think he doesn’t already know?”

“He’s in the fae realm right now and I’m intercepting most of his shit through Jinki so he gets some rest.” Taehyung sighs, weaving a crown of flowers to still his anxious hands. 

“I’m going to just tell Jinki to tell him. If we keep him in the dark he’ll be even angrier,” Sehun says, lifting the glowing playing card to eye level.

“ _ The fates just hate me today don’t they?” _ Jinki’s tired voice floats through the room.

“I’m sorry Jinki. I can tell him if you want. He’s still gonna lose it though,” Taehyung offers.

“ _ No, I’ll do it. If you come into our court I can’t promise your safety. Things are still a bit turbulent here and the last thing we need is another war to handle.” _ Jinki says.

The card goes back to normal and Sehun slides it back into his pocket with a shrug.

 

Taemin thinks he takes the news very well. Jeongguk, who had just barely managed to not get obliterated like the right side of the room, thinks otherwise. Jinki waits patiently while Taemin calms himself down, then sits beside him on the bed.

“Taemin, be rational.” Jinki says.

“I’m being perfectly rational!” Taemin all but screams.

“Taemin.”

Taemin leans his head back against the pillows.

“This is unbelievable,” Taemin says.

Jinki pets his hair and Jeongguk looks away awkwardly. It was an action that really shouldn’t be all that intimate, yet somehow between them it was.

“Am I allowed to get up now? There are things that need to be done,” Taemin says.

“You’re still not healed. Leave it for now,” Jinki says.

“Will you bring Sehun here?”

“For?”

“I want to have a little chat with him.”

For whatever reason, that simple sentence left Jeongguk with a horrible feeling.

 

Jongin knows he’s dreaming when he sees the field filled with black flowers. It’s night in his dream, but there’s a full moon illuminating the sky above him. He isn’t surprised when Taemin shows up, the faery had frequented his dreams, but what’s most surprising is how panicked Taemin seems to be when he appears. He grabs Jongin by the shoulders desperately, hanging on as if Jongin would disappear at any second.

“Nini, whatever they tell you, whatever they say about me, don’t believe them,” he says.

“Who?” Jongin asks.

“Jongin I’m so sorry. Don’t listen to them, they’re lying,”

“Taemin what’s going on?”

“Remember that I love you.”

Jongin is ripped away from the scene as he’s shaken awake by Junmyun.

“Let’s go!” Junmyun is shouting, evidently having been trying to wake him up for awhile now.

Jongin stumbles out of bed and follows Junmyun down the hall to where an emergency meeting has been called. They huddle in with the rest of them, finding Yixing and Minseok standing with their other brethren. 

“We have a very grave announcement to make. You all know that we engaged in battle yesterday with some of the members of the resistance. Well, unfortunately Jin Ri, or Sulli if you prefer, was shot in the head by none other than Taemin, alias the Phantom Thief.” Ryeowook says.

Murmurs start through the crowd and people begin to shift uncomfortably.

“Taemin never liked guns,” Minseok frowns.

“Something sounds wrong here,” Yixing says.

“The fae don’t use human weapons. They don’t need them,” Baekhyun says.

A divide starts to form, and it’s easy to see who doesn’t quite believe the PCU’s story. Still, they stay. No one is quite brave enough to leave the ranks of the government.

“We must prepare for battle! This is our chance to stop the resistance in it’s path!” Jong Woon says.

Chanyeol mutters something under his breath and Baekhyun laces their fingers together with a smile. Kyungsoo puts his hand on Jongin’s shoulder and it’s comforting, now especially since he wasn’t sure who he could trust.

 

Taemin rubs his head with his hands. Once he could actually get Jeongguk to talk to him, it was nearly impossible to shut him up. And then once he had gotten him started on some werewolf named Jimin, there was no end in sight. He was a chatterbox. Taemin pulls a pillow over his head and starts debating the pros and cons of just suffocating himself to end the torture when his cards start to light up. He sits up and throws the pillow at Jeongguk, nailing him in the head, before opening the call.

“Is this a bad time?” It’s Henry on the other end of the line and Taemin is glad to see him.

“Right now? Actually no,” Taemin says.

“Oh alright. Well, I’m here with an update. I’m not quite sure how much longer I’ll be able to keep these up, Zhou Mi was already caught,”

“What happened to him?”

“They executed him under the cover of the battle. Just like they did with Sulli. Both of them were showing signs of sympathizing with you guys so they offed them.”

“Shit. Do I need to get you out?”

“I’m not the only one. You know those prophecy boys you kept telling me to keep an eye on? Most of them probably need an out too.”

“Go for plan zeta nine for everyone you can get. When are they launching the next attack?”

“From what I know, within the next couple of days.”

“We’ll be ready for you. Try not to die.”

“Always the words of encouragement.”

Henry cuts the connection and Taemin hauls himself out of bed. He was still sore, but all of the wounds were healed enough that they wouldn’t open. He makes his way towards the door and it’s opened by Jinki with Sehun hovering behind him.

“Where are you going?” he asks.

“Back to the human realm. They need us,” Taemin says.

“They always need us.”

“You coming?”

“Of course. And so are the hounds.”

Taemin rolls his eyes and continues out to the hall where the gabriel hounds are all patiently waiting. They form a protective ring around him as they walk through the halls. Taemin wishes for simpler times, back before he wasn’t a king when he could get shot and no one would bat an eye. Oh well. They teleport right into the middle of the dining hall where a meeting is taking place. Taemin climbs off the table with Sehun, Jinki, and Jeongguk at his side, and the hounds line the room.

“I’m back!” Taemin sing songs. “Who missed me?”


	12. please don't leave me today

The one Namjoon recognizes as the second in command for the hounds approaches him with a smile that was probably supposed to look friendly but turned out looking more insane than anything else.

“Hello. You are the werewolf Namjoon, correct?” she asks.

“Yes?” Namjoon says.

“I am Aisling, second lead of the gabriel hounds. We were informed that you do not have a pack to run with to battle?”

“Yeah? What does it matter? It’s gonna be chaos and in the end it’s gonna be every being for themselves,” Namjoon shrugs. “Being alone has never bothered me anyway.” 

“Do you wish to join us? For this battle at least you do not have to be alone.”

Namjoon hesitates. From what he understands about the fae he knows they don’t offer anything without expecting repayment. “If you don’t mind me asking, why?”

She cocks her head to the side. “Why? Because you seem to be the only werewolf here that my lord has taken a liking to. That is the why.”

“I don’t blame him. Jiho is an ass.” Namjoon grumbles. 

“Would you like to?”

Namjoon chooses his words carefully, “I appreciate the offer and I think that for this battle that would be a very suitable arrangement. Any battle after this one I would need time to consider the offer further.” 

“He agreed!” she shouts and immediately the hounds swarm him.

“This might hurt a bit if you fight it,” the Gabriel says.

He grabs Namjoon’s head and there’s enormous pressure before Namjoon forces himself to relax. The pressure disappears and is replaced with the thoughts and feelings from the entire group of hounds. 

_ You are one of us now, however temporarily. _ Aisling says-thinks.

They force him to change into an outfit that matches the rest of theirs and Namjoon just knows somehow that it will transition in and out of existence as needed when he shifts. He just suddenly… gains the knowledge of the plans. There would be a safe zone with fae portals set up at the back of the battlefield where they could evacuate anyone they needed to. The purpose was to get the rest of the prophecy boys to the resistance base as well as any other supernatural they could rescue. There were probably minor details, but the hounds were focused on the thought of battle and how much damage they could cause. Taemin approaches them and their attention snaps to him.

“Let’s go,” Taemin says.

The hounds fall into step with him and Namjoon can feel the glamour of fear that radiates out from the unseelie fae. Sunshine radiates from the group that has gathered around Taehyung and the twins smile at each other. They meet the PCU head on. 

“Jinki! Either get Minho on our side or get the contract from him. Jeongguk is mine now,” Taemin says.

Jinki winks before setting off in a blur of motion. Jeongguk looks at him in disbelief before his attention is grabbed away by a werewolf.

“Jimin!” he shouts.

 

The PCU had made a stupid mistake summoning so many demons without handlers. They were out of control and wreaking havoc on anyone they could catch, torturing and killing without discrimination. However a few were actually following orders, attacking the wards surrounding Hyuk. Hongbin was running interference while Hyuk repaired the wards as quickly as he could. The fae helped where they could, but mostly focused their efforts on stopping the demons. 

It was only natural that something - or someone - would slip through the cracks. 

Hyuk cries out when the demon wraps it’s arm around his throat but it’s too late for Hongbin to do anything as he hears the snap of Hyuk’s neck. Hongbin screams, the connection to his master splintering, leaving him completely alone. For a moment the demons step back before they launch into a second wave but now, Hongbin has nothing to lose. No one to watch out for, no one to have his back, no way to  _ die _ . 

 

Jinki finds the warlock named Minho easily enough. He didn’t know that Taemin had known his name, but he guessed that Jeongguk must’ve spilled it at some point when they were together.

“Minho my darling it’s been so long,” Jinki says, weaving deadly promises into every word.

The warlock’s eyes start to glaze over, and Jinki holds out a hand for the warlock to take. He’s easily swept into the embrace and falls deeper under Jinki’s spell.

“Now come on pet, give me the contract you made with the demon Jeongguk,” Jinki says.

“What?” Minho says, starting to fight against him.

“Give me the contract. It’s so hard on you, poor thing, just hand it over to me so you can be free,”

“I don’t-”

“You know the words. Transfer it. Now,” Jinki says, pushing to overwhelm his mind.

He can see some of the other members of the government trying to reach them. Minho mutters the words and a sear of pain later, Jinki holds the contract. He pushes Minho away, towards the ones that are trying to reach him and admires the new tattoo on his left hand.

“Nice and visible for the most power. I like your style,” Jinki says.

“Why did you want that?” Minho sputters, still trying to clear his head.

“Because my lord asked for it. For Taemin, I would burn this horrid city to the ground,” Jinki says with a smile.

He turns away from the government officials and disappears.

 

The fighting seems to all blur together. Namjoon knows what he has to do and does it before the thought can even finish forming. Everything moves fast but he keeps up just fine. He works effortlessly alongside the hounds, shifting from beast to man and back again to get the job done. He pauses for a couple heartbeats to catch his breath when he notices a brunette vampire staring at him. Sensing no threat, Namjoon throws a cocky smile at him. The vampire  _ blushes _ and turns away.

“I’m Jin, who are you?” the vampire asks.

“We’re the hounds of gabriel,” Namjoon says automatically. “Wait, I’m Namjoon.”

He feels rather than sees Aisling approaching with blades drawn. Before he can think the word  _ wait _ , her blades are already moving. They miss Jin by a centimeter, crossing in front of his throat without hurting him.

“Oooo, is this your new play toy? A beau? Lucky you said something or this would have been a mess,” she laughs like she hadn’t almost decapitated him. “Well if you are done with him then get him to the transport. Things are getting messy.”

She withdraws her blades and pushes the vampire towards him then disappears again in a blur of motion. Jin stumbles into Namjoon and Namjoon catches him on instinct.

“I want to join! The resistance I mean. I want to join the resistance,” Jin says.

 

Jung Soo watches the battle from the safety of the base, keeping close tabs on Sun Young. And she knows what’s coming for Sun Young but she can’t do anything but watch. She watches, safe, while Sun Young is stabbed over and over until she crumbles. She sobs on the floor wishing more than anything she could be there, just to hold her hand. 

She chants “Sun Young,” over and over, pleading with whatever deities were listening to just let her live. But it doesn’t matter, because she’s seen how this plays out. She knows every detail. It brings her no comfort because what’s the point of seeing the future if you can’t change it? 

Sun Young is dying and she can’t do  _ anything _ to save her. She doesn’t feel when she dies, but she does know. She knows she won’t make it. No one sees her fall and know one will know until after the battle is over. And it hurts. It hurts so much to know that Sun Young is alone and in pain and that she won’t be coming back. 

 

Sehun doesn’t really think before he starts to act. It’s freeing to be able to use his powers however he wants, especially now that Taemin had given him approval to just fight. It was weird being a fae now and he briefly wonders how he’s going to break the news to the rest of the people who came from his home planet.  _ Technically  _ he was supposed to still be in the fae realm while his body adjusted, but as long as he was near Taemin he was fine. He appears behind Taemin and knocks the bullets out of the air before they can reach him and Taemin flashes a smile in his direction before returning his attention to the group of human soldiers he has cornered. Walls of pure nightmare surround them, and they close in on each other to avoid touching the walls. Of course, it was all in their heads but it still felt very, very real. The soldiers start screaming in horror and Sehun keeps watch for other weapons that could harm his king. Yeah, this would definitely take some adjusting to.

 

Jinki feels rather than sees Daesung get shot. He turns from the government official he had been fighting with in time to see Daesung crumple to the ground. He’s beside him a half second later, trying to heal him in vain. The bullet is iron, and there’s nothing Jinki can do. A dark bubble encases them and Jinki looks over to where Taemin is passing by them. By putting them in the shield, his intentions were clear. Jinki had time with him, not much but just enough to ensure that Daesung wouldn’t have to move on without someone there. Jinki pulls Daesung into his arms and the seer smiles weakly up at him.

“Jinki?” he asks.

“I’m here,” Jinki says.

Daesung’s blood is pooling out, a strange blend of human and fae blood, and Jinki can feel him getting weaker.

“It wasn’t meant to be. It’s not your fault,” Daesung says, starting to struggle for breath.

Jinki doesn’t cry, not like he should. The time for mourning would be after battle, when the bodies were cleared and other lives weren’t in danger. The shield around him dissolves and the sounds of battle come back into focus. He stands and lets Daesung’s body go as one of the death fae approaches. She gives Jinki a polite smile before picking up Daesung’s body and turning back. Time to find who had shot him. He pulls out his sword from the Between and lightly twirls it.

He finds Taemin before he finds the one who needed to die. Taemin is spinning between throngs of government soldiers, striking out with the intent to kill now that they had killed one of their own. His shields are appearing and dropping at speeds even Jinki can barely track as he rips through the entire unit. His head whips over to where Jinki is standing and his silver eyes pin him in place. Taemin is beside him in the blink of an eye, blood spattered hands reaching up to cradle his face. Jinki leans into the touch, eyes closing for a brief moment. 

“Unleash hell,” Taemin says, verbally giving Jinki the permission he didn’t know he was seeking.

Jinki starts singing as he heads towards the next unit, letting his grief mix into the words to bring the soldiers to their knees. It wouldn’t take long for their minds to crack.

 

Young Bae hadn’t pictured his death like this, if he was being honest. The spear lodged in his chest cavity aches with every breath he takes and he can’t help but wonder where he went wrong. He likes the think it was when he tried to help that faery prince. That was a stupid move. So he can’t say he’s dying without regrets but hey, what better way to die than to die for freedom? Or so he tells himself. He almost gets stepped on by the Gabriel of Taemin’s army, people, dogs?

“Hey watch it. I’m dying here, show a little respect,”

“Oh. Yeah, that definitely looks like a fatal injury. That’s a bummer,” the Gabriel says. He tilts his head to the side. “Do you want me to end your life faster or do you prefer to die without assistance?”

“Tough call, damn.” Young Bae winces. “But I think I got this on my own.”

“Suit yourself,” the Gabriel shrugs.

“Man, I’ve lived a good life.”

“So you aren’t afraid of dying?”

“I thought I would be, but no. Plus, it’s a bit late to care.”

“There’s truth in that, brother. We’ll remember you for a couple hundred years.”

Young Bae forces out a strained laugh, his eyelids feel heavy and he’s glad he’s not in pain anymore. “Thanks.” 

The Gabriel watches Young Bae die quietly, simply witnesses the death before moving on to assist in battle elsewhere.

 

“Jimin!” Jeongguk calls, relief coursing through him at the sight of the small werewolf. 

“Jeongguk!” Jimin bowls into him, wrapping his arms around the demon’s waist and tucking his head into his shoulder. “You’re okay. You’re okay. God I was so worried.” 

Jeongguk smooths a hand across Jimin’s back, nuzzling into the wolf’s hair. “I’m glad you’re okay. But we need to go.” 

“What?” 

“We need to go. It’s not safe here and I’m not letting anything happen to you. Not so soon after getting you back.” Jeongguk says, tugging Jimin through the battle effortlessly. 

Jimin smiles softly at the demon, falling into step next to him as they run to the safe zone behind the resistance. 

 

Yixing just barely sees the dark skinned vampire fall. One with long hair cradles him in his arms and is screaming, looking like it had been him to get a stake to the heart instead. Time seems to slow down around him, as if Zitao was still here beside him, as he watches them. This time, he doesn’t think. He breaks from the group that he had been told to stay with and dodges bullets as he makes his way towards the two vampires. The dark skinned one is still barely holding on, and for a moment he sees Wufan there instead. Wufan who had sacrificed everything just so they could make it to earth, Wufan that had supported them as the wars back home had ravaged their country, Wufan whom he had loved. Yixing kneels next to them, ignoring the way the long haired vampire snaps at him.

“I can help him. Let me help him,” Yixing says.

He doesn’t want anyone else to live the half life that he had been living since he had gotten to earth.

“It’s okay Taekwoon,” the dark skinned vampire chokes out.

Taekwoon laces their hands together, holding it to his cheek.

“Save him. Please.” Taekwoon says in a raw voice.

It seems to register late that vampire’s tears are stained like blood. Yixing places his hands on the vampire’s chest and begins healing, throwing everything he has into it. This time he can save someone, this time he’s the one who makes the choice. He can feel the world closing in on him, even as the vampire underneath him is coming back to his undead life, the flesh underneath knitting closed after the stake is removed. Yixing feels tired. He dimly sees the vampires staring at him in awe as he finishes before he slumps to the ground.

“ _ It’s okay now. Just rest, I’m here with you.” _ a voice that sounds familiar says.

“Wufan?” he slurs before the darkness closes in on him.

 

“YIXING!” Minseok screams, breaking away from the group.

He sees the healer fall, not moving, not breathing. His control on his powers slip and ice encases the area around him, crawling up his skin and probably blasting the group around him. If that was the way Yixing was going, Minseok wanted to follow him. He pushes his power to the limit, straining for it to be enough. He didn’t want to live without him. Strong arms wrap around him and he fights against him.

“Minseok, enough! You’ll die if you keep this up!” Taemin says.

He fights against the fae harder, still able to see the place where Yixing was lying.

“That doesn’t matter anymore!” Minseok screams.

“Yes it does. Yixing would’ve wanted you to live,” Taemin says.

“Then why did he leave me?” Minseok slumps against him, the fight leaving as soon as it had come.

“He didn’t want anyone else to have to die,” Taemin says.

Minseok turns to look at him with the lines of tears frozen onto his face. Taemin is covered in a layer of frost, but he doesn’t look uncomfortable. He places a hand on Minseok’s forehead.

“Sleep now,” Taemin says.

Minseok slumps in his arms and Taemin supports him effortlessly. The faeries of death are working on the battlefield, clearing away the fallen, and Taemin silently watches as they gently pick up the body of Yixing. There would be time for mourning later. He picks Minseok up bridal style and crosses the battlefield to where the transport was. Most of the group that had been with Minseok would need to be taken into the medical wing due to the severe frostbite they now had. Taemin passes off Minseok to one of the hounds and watches as the rest of them are cleared out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #sorry not sorry


	13. i hate being sober

Hongbin doesn’t feel anything. At least that’s what he tells himself. Really he feels like someone carved out his heart with a dull spoon. He barely remembers what  happened on the battlefield after Hyuk died, only that he fought until he couldn’t stand from exhaustion. He thinks one of the faery kings brought him back in, but he isn’t sure. All he knows is that he’s curled into Hyuk’s bed, face buried in the pillow to avoid looking at the traces of him around their bunk. 

It doesn’t block out the heady scent of incense or the way Hyuk’s pillow smells like him. He doesn’t cry, mostly because he can’t feel anything yet. Maybe he never will? After all Hyuk was the last thing that made him  _ feel _ human again. He rolls over, staring at the ceiling as he contemplates his future. Without Hyuk nothing really matters. 

But Hyuk wouldn’t want that. And he knows that. So rather than wallow, Hongbin staggers to his feet. He’s going to drink himself into a stupor, be hungover for a day and then get on with his life. Not because he wants to, but because it’s what Hyuk would want. And after all, what’s a voodoo doll if they don’t do what their master asks of them? 

 

Jung Soo knows she’s not being rational. She knows that there’s nothing she can do. And yet, she still pours over tomes searching for a way to bring Sun Young back to her. She keeps reliving it in her mind. The way Sun Young had her name on her lips as she died. Her lips tremble as she skims over the text, snapping it shut when it offers no answer. Rubbing at her eyes, Jung Soo feels tears welling up again. She knew from the start that this could have happened and now she’s paying the price. She knew the potential consequences. She knew the outcomes and yet she had done nothing. 

Sobs shake her form as she curls into herself at the base of her desk. The carpet is rough against her cheek, but she doesn’t care. She can’t breathe and her chest aches from a loss she never thought would actually come to be. As Jung Soo calms, she makes her way to Sun Young’s bed. They’d long stopped sleeping separately, but the bed was still there. She flops onto the bed, grimacing when her head hits a small box. Rolling over, she picks it up, breath hitching as she recognizing the velvet of a jewelry box. Barely breathing, Jung Soo opens the box. Nestled inside is a small engagement ring. 

Jung Soo chokes on another sob, cradling the box to her chest for a moment before slipping the ring onto her finger. It fits perfectly and as the cool metal touches her skin, she Sees the moment Sun Young had chosen the ring. Seeing her so happy and blissfully unaware hurt, but it doesn’t feel as sharp in that moment, knowing that she’d loved her with all she had. 

 

Minseok ends up in the same part of the recovery wing as the dark skinned vampire Yixing had saved. He knows that it isn’t his fault, the vampire hadn’t asked to be nearly killed, but in a way it is his fault that Yixing had saved him. Yixing had gone and decided that the life of the resistance leader was more important than his own. Minseok can’t help but  _ feel _ so he shuts out all of his grief and lets it funnel into anger instead. Jongdae gently cleans the cuts that litter Minseok’s body.

“It’s not his fault,” Jongdae says quietly.

Minseok’s eyes snap from where he had been glaring at Hakyeon. “Yes it is.”

“No, it’s not. You know that.”

“If he wouldn’t have gotten hurt-”

“But he did. Yixing knew what he was doing.”

“He left me!”

“He left all of us.”

Jongdae glances up to see Taekwoon’s gaze on Minseok. If looks could kill- he shakes his head. He was not going to be thinking of death when Minseok needed him.

“I know. I know I’m being selfish because I want him here but I can’t stop thinking about it,” Minseok whispers.

“It’s okay. We all miss him, and we’re all gonna get through this together,” Jongdae says.

Minseok looks away from Jongdae’s face. They had already lost so many of their own. Jongdae’s gaze wanders to the other beds in the infirmary. Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, and Junmyun had all been caught in Minseok’s power when he had lost control and now they were struggling to recover from their injuries. Chanyeol won’t leave Baekhyun’s side and Jongdae can’t help but smile as he sees them together. Jongin would come in occasionally to check on Kyungsoo, and Jongdae always felt bad whenever he would leave again. Sehun doesn’t visit often, and when he does he’s extremely quiet and normally hanging around one of the fae when they come in.

 

Taehyung makes his rounds in the infirmary, stopping by each person and diligently healing what he can. He prioritizes Hakyeon, simply because they’ve already lost Sun Young and need the leader on his feet. It’s simple enough to finish the job Yixing had started and Taehyung clears the leader to leave the infirmary and continues on his way. Kyungsoo, Baekhyun and Junmyun are easy enough to heal. He’s dealt with frostbite since he was a child because Taemin had liked to test what he’d learned on him. As he heals he instructs them to take it easy for a few days and regain their strength. Sehun trails behind him chatting quietly as he works. 

Minseok is his last stop. The ice wielder looks up at him as he approaches. “Don’t touch me.”

Taehyung bites his lip, “Please let me help you, Minseok.”

“No.”

A tense moment of silence passes before Taehyung runs a hand through his hair, “Why? Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t heal you.” 

“I don’t want you to.”

“Why not?” Taehyung isn’t sure what possesses him to care. Maybe because of the way he’d watched Yixing and Minseok while at HQ. It doesn’t matter, Taehyung just knows he wants to help. 

“I hurt everyone. I don’t deserve instant relief.”

Taehyung lets out a slow breath. “Punishing yourself won’t bring him back. It won’t help.” 

“I don’t care. Leave me alone.”

“Yixing wouldn’t have wanted this. He’d have wanted you to be healthy.” 

“Leave. Me. Alone.” Minseok hisses.

“Or what?” Taehyung can’t help but challenge. “You’ve drained yourself to the point where you can’t do anything. You need to heal. What if something happens and we need you?”

“Taemin can use frost just fine.”

“Taemin has other responsibilities and can’t take your place, Minseok.” Taehyung says, warning in his tone. 

“My  _ place? _ I just got here. What place?”

“You’ve had a place here since you were prophesied about,” Taehyung says simply, wondering if he ought to just leave the man alone. But he is right and they need everyone back to health, just in case. 

Minseok looks down to where Jongdae’s hand sits on the edge of the bed, tense probably because of stress. He looks up to where Jongdae is already staring at him, waiting for his decision.

“Fine. Heal me.” Minseok says.

Taehyung doesn’t reply, merely gets to work. The healing process is easy, seeing as Minseok had most just exhausted himself. As he finishes, Taehyung summons a mug with a vibrant looking tea inside. 

“Drink this and then go rest and you’ll be good in an hour.” He instructs, smiling slightly at Jongdae before walking back out of the infirmary, Sehun on his tail.

“Awesome,” Minseok says bitterly.

 

Jinki is livid. Daesung wasn’t even supposed to have been on that field, but he had come anyway and had paid the ultimate price. He hadn’t been strong enough, not more than halfway through the fae transformation because his mind had been too weak. But now it was too late for regrets. Jinki finds Taemin in Taekwoon’s library, staring up at the tomes in silence. When he turns to look at Jinki, there’s an uncharacteristically serious look on his face.

“We’ve lost more than I care to admit,” Taemin says.

Jinki thinks back to the battlefield, how members of the resistance had lain dying in pain. He didn’t even know most of their names, just nameless faces that had believed in a cause enough to die for it.

“That is the truth,” Jinki says.

He hugs Taemin from behind, resting his chin on his king’s shoulder. Taemin absently pats his arm.

“How are the others holding up?” Taemin asks.

“Not well,” Jinki says.

“Do you need to mourn?”

“There are more important things to do.”

“We can honor him, even if he was only half fae.”

Jinki gives Taemin a grateful smile, but shakes his head.

“We should be here for the rest of them,” Jinki says.

 

Things move on slowly. It’s awkward in the base for weeks, everyone trying to get used to the absence left by their members. Things move on slowly, everyone healing and moving on the best they can.

Taemin finds Hongbin curled in on himself in one of the old underground rooms. The voodoo doll is absently rocking himself back and forth while muttering something and Taemin leans against the wall to watch him.

“You good?” Taemin asks.

Startled, Hongbin jumps and swings around to face him. “Taemin!” he says.

“You’re doing that thing again. You missed dinner,” Taemin says.

“Did I?”

“Is it one of those days? Again?”

“It might be.”

Taemin comes to sit beside him and absently traces patterns into his back.

“It’s hard for you, isn’t it?” Taemin asks.

“Of fucking course it is! I just- I’m not- I don’t  _ feel _ human,” Hongbin says.

“I can help with that.”

“How?”

“You could join my court.”

“ _ Excuse me? _ ”

“Join my court. It would give you the freedom you’re looking for. No more ties to this world, no more guilt, just freedom.”

“Somehow, I don’t believe that.”

“Just think about it. You’d no longer be a doll.”

Hongbin does think about it. He turns over the idea in his head over and over, trying to think of it from different angles, trying to figure out what could be a drawback. He can’t find one. As a fae he would be able to be just him for the first time in his entire life, free to exist without having any effect on the people around him. He finds Taemin and pulls him to the side after dinner.

“Make me into a fae.” Hongbin says.

Taemin’s smile stretches and he latches onto his arm, teleporting them into the fae realm.

 

Somehow, Jongin finds out about Taemin’s past dating experiences and he isn’t happy. Of course, out of all the places he could ever choose to bring it up, he brings it up at dinner.

“Just how many people have you dated before?” Jongin demands.

Taemin fiddles with the silverware in front of him.

“Babe I don’t think that this is really the time to talk about this,” Taemin says.

“No! I want to know! How many people have you dated in this room?” Jongin demands.

He glares around at the table and a few awkwardly cough before everyone except Yoongi and Taehyung raise their hands.

“He tried. Almost did,” Yoongi says.

“I got there first,” Taehyung says.

They high five and Taemin buries his face in his hands.

“Actually Yoongi, I courted you when you were still human,” Taemin corrects.

Taehyung snorts, “You’ve dated both of us!”

“Everyone at this table? Really?” Jongin says.

“It’s not like you ever said we were dating exclusively! But it’s just been you for awhile now!” Taemin says.

His voice is sliding into whining and the others at the table go back to their dinner to ignore the conversation.

“I just- I can’t do this. I need some time,” Jongin says.

He pushes back from the table and leaves the room. Taemin stares down at his plate for a heartbeat then disappears.

“Is he okay?” Jung Soo asks, directing the question at Taehyung.

“He will be. Probably,” Taehyung shrugs.

Jinki sighs heavily, “I’ll check on him.”

Jinki disappears as well. It’s not even ten minutes later when a portal opens up in front of Taehyung. It’s Taemin and the sounds of battle filter into the room.

“Hey brother, this is a recording because wouldn’t you know I’m actually busy here,” Taemin gives a forced laugh. “Yeah anyway, I’m by the grove where the border is on the east side and it’s the funniest thing,” There’s the sound of screaming and manic laughter in the background. “Um your faeries tried to cross the border and take some land and now there’sabattleandthey’rebeingdestroyedI’msorrypleasecomehomebye.”

The message portal closes and Taehyung rubs his face with his hands. Sighing deeply, Taehyung stands. He presses a quick kiss to Yoongi’s lips murmuring a goodbye before vanishing. 

The fighting has mostly stopped when Taehyung arrives. There are a few stubborn Seelie court fae still grappling with Taemin’s hounds and the Unseelie fae and Taehyung can practically feel the headache coming on. Taemin has his arms around a giant hound that has one of the Seelie fae in its mouth.

“Gabriel let go!” Taemin shouts.

The hound shakes the fae once more for good measure before dropping it and moving back to where the rest of the pack has retreated to the safety of the tree line.

The few Unseelie fae still fighting bare their teeth at Taehyung and he scowls. 

“That’s enough,” Taehyung’s voice booms around the clearing and the area floods with light, showing the sharp angry lines of his face.

The Unseelie fae hiss and run into the shelter of the trees. Taemin squints through his shield, “Coulda warned me asshole,”

Taehyung doesn’t grace Taemin with a response, turning and glaring at the fae who started the skirmish. “Back to the court. Now.” 

The Seelie fae vanish back to their court, Taehyung following close behind hissing something about punishments. The court is quiet and still as if waiting to see how Taehyung will react. 

“So. Now that we’re all gathered here, let’s have a  _ conversation _ on why what you did was wrong,” He smiles brightly, eyes curving into crescents. 

One of the fae whimpers and Taehyung laughs. “Now,  _ killing _ you wouldn’t do. No. How could you learn if you were dead?”

The fae who whimpered, whines and turns to run but Taehyung is there in an instant. He wrenches her arm out of it’s socket and presses his fingers to her forehead, smiling contently at her screams. She drops and Taehyung steps over her body. 

“Anyone else want to run away?” He says. “No? That’s good. I wouldn’t want to have to kill anyone else.” 

“Who was the one who lead this operation?” 

No one steps forward and Taemin doesn’t blame them. 

Taehyung sighs, “Ah well. So much for  _ easy _ . But it’s more fun this way anyway.” 

He takes his time, going to each fae and pressing his fingers to their temple and humming as he takes their sight. By the time he’s at the last of thirty fae, all he can hear is groans of pain and whimpers. 

“To complete this punishment,  _ you _ will remain sighted.”

The faery deflates in relief and Taehyung laughs. 

“All of you will now remain servants to the court and  _ you _ will be in charge of them. Enjoy your next century of servitude.” He smiles once more before vanishing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a summary of our mental health: http://www.gocomics.com/owlturd/2016/05/25
> 
> if you're bored waiting for us to get our mental health out of the toilet i (taessmile) have a couple of finished fics on my ao3 as well as another in progress (#shameless self promo)
> 
> "i am the sand guardian, the guardian of the sand" says taessmile.   
> "poseidon quivers before him!" says B  
> "FUCK OFF"  
> https://vine.co/v/hnvggE7x2l3
> 
> we can't... i just... whatever.
> 
> xoxo B


	14. and i had the answers but now they mean nothing

Taemin paces the length of his roomy office and a storm starts to brew around him. Shadows swirl inside the room and he mutters to himself, making sure to keep a tight lid on his emotions so none of them seeped through to Taehyung. Some of them do, but there’s nothing he can do to stop that.

_ Hey, is everything okay? _ Taehyung asks.

_ Of course. _

_ Your emotions say otherwise, it’s like touching a live wire. _

_ Don’t worry about it Tae Tae, I’m just a bit stressed. _

_ Do you want to come to the high court and relax? _

_ I’m fine, don’t worry. _

_ If you’re sure… _

He feels Taehyung’s attention shift away and he resumes his pacing and muttering. The door opens and Sehun sticks his head in.

“Is now a bad ti- oh my god. Yeah it is. I’ll come back later,” Sehun says, retreating.

A couple of minutes later the door swings open again. Jinki sighs as he watches him pace, then pushes his way further into the room. He brushes a stray shadow off of the couch and sits down, tracking Taemin with his eyes.

“Alright, what’s on your mind?” Jinki asks.

The shadows slither around his feet happily.

“Jinki I’m gonna lose him!” Taemin says.

“Who?” Jinki asks.

“What if I’ve lost him already?”

“Wait-”

“What if I’m too late?”

“Tae-”

“What if he’s moved on?”

“Really-”

“He’s probably moved on!”

“I don’t-”

“He’s forgotten about me!”

“That isn’t-”

“Maybe he’s already married Kyungsoo!”

“Oh come-”

“What if they already have kids?”

“Stop-”

“Jinki he’s left me!”

“No he hasn’t I-”

“My life is over. This is the worst day of my life.”

“Enough!”

Jinki forcibly pulls Taemin onto the couch next to him and Taemin’s mouth snaps shut as he looks at his advisor with wide eyes.

“You’ve been gone for two human weeks. Just go back there and sort all of it out. It’ll be easy,” Jinki says.

“I don’t believe you,” Taemin says.

“You should at least try. And stop moping.”

Taemin sighs and ruffles his hair, causing it to turn a deep shade of blue.

“Okay, I’ll give it a shot,” Taemin says.

 

After changing into more casual black clothes, Taemin slips into the human realm. It’s nighttime, so not many humans are out, but there are plenty of supernaturals wandering the streets. He makes his way to the glamoured resistance base and opens the door. He can’t really sense anyone awake inside, so he’s quiet. It was probably later than he had thought. Human time was stupid. He finds Jonghyun as the only one still awake.

“Is everyone else asleep?” Taemin asks.

“Well it is three in the morning,” Jonghyun says.

Taemin sighs as he sits on the couch next to him. Jonghyun flips through the book that he had been trying to read before giving up and tossing it to the side. Taemin catches it before it hits the ground and levitates it back to the shelf.

“And your problem is?” Taemin asks.

“It’s nothing,” Jonghyun mutters.

“Right.”

“It’s nothing that needs to concern anyone else.”

“And yet…”

“God you’re nosy. Do you really want me to tell you?”

“We are the only ones up and I’m bored.”

Taemin looks over at Jonghyun with wide eyes and pouts. Jonghyun rolls his eyes.

“I know what that look is for, and it’s not going to work this time,” Jonghyun says.

Taemin tilts his head to the side and somehow manages to look cuter. Jonghyun huffs out a sigh of frustration. Taemin puts his head on Jonghyun’s shoulder with a smile and curls up next to him.

“Tell me?” Taemin asks, lacing their fingers together.

“Fine. Fine! It’s just, Amber,” Jonghyun says.

“What about her?”

“She’s, I don’t know. Ever since Henry has gotten back from the mission you sent him on she’s been spending more time with him.”

“And you’re bothered by that.”

“Of course I am.”

“Have you talked to her about it?”

“No-yes-kind of?”

“Maybe you should.”

“Oh yeah, because you’re so great at communication!”

“Ouch.”

“Am I wrong?”

“No, but it’s still rude.”

Jonghyun tips his head back with a sigh.

“Besides, it’s her life. She won’t live for very long, she’s a mortal. I’m not going to stand in her way no matter how much it hurts me,” Jonghyun says.

“Time is supposed to heal all wounds, or so the mortals fancy saying,” Taemin says.

“But we both know that’s not true.”

 

“Do you want to come with me this time Nini?” Taemin asks with a broad smile.

“With you where?” Jongin asks.

“To the fae realm, I’ll make sure you’re safe and everything,” Taemin says.

“Don’t go, he might not bring you back. He’s a faerie, they can’t be trusted on principle,” Kyungsoo says.

Everyone in the room freezes and Taemin turns to look at him with a blank face.

 

The room around Kyungsoo starts to twist and warp around him. When everything stops spinning, Kyungsoo finds himself standing across from Taemin on a checkered ground. The whole area is surrounded by torches that line the perfect square. He looks around and realizes that it looked an awfully lot like a giant chess board, and he was standing in the king’s square. A white throne rises behind him as creatures of all sorts take their places on the board.

“Shall we play a game?” Taemin asks, lounging on a black throne of his own.

In any normal game of chess, white had the first move, so Kyungsoo points to a creature on the front line that he thinks is a goblin.

“You. Move up two spaces,” Kyungsoo says.

The goblin chatters in it’s language and follows the order, the rest of them look back at him in a mixture of confusion and disgust. Taemin’s smile grows as his entire front line begins to advance.

“That’s cheating! Chess doesn’t work that way!” Kyungsoo says.

“Chess? Was that the game you assumed we were playing? No, this is war.” Taemin says.

Kyungsoo’s own front line seem to brace themselves for the attack, and Kyungsoo realizes just how dangerous it was when an arrow narrowly misses his head.

 

Kyungsoo’s face twists in frustration as he shouts out orders. He really was a good commander, Taemin could see that, but he still wouldn’t go easy on him. Kyungsoo slams his hands into the ground and it twists around the legs of Taemin’s soldiers. Taemin jumps out of the way of the attack and lands lightly on top of the now sunken throne he had been sitting on. A couple of his soldiers had also escaped the attack by balancing on the backs of the less fortunate goblins.

“Finally deciding to take this seriously?” Taemin taunts.

_ Get up or I’ll add one hundred years to your sentence. _ Taemin commands his side.

The faeries begin to struggle and chip at the dirt that holds them hostage. The ones who break loose start towards Kyungsoo. Taemin really couldn’t remember why most of the faeries were here, it was something his mother had started. Prison sentences started around one thousand years if they were lucky. Each battle they won would take one hundred years off their sentence at a minimum, more if he felt generous. This had been one of the many ways his mother had kept control over the court. For a couple of the warriors on his side, this would be their final battle and then they could be released. Taemin was practically ensured victory, most of the soldiers on Kyungsoo’s side had been mortally injured, but the king needed to be captured first. Taemin watches with disappointment as Kyungsoo is easily thrown to the ground and held there by some of his soldiers. He had been expecting a bigger fight from the earth user.

“Normally the losing king would be executed, but I won’t take any pleasure from driving you insane,” Taemin says.

He waves his hand and the playing field disperses.

 

Taemin shrugs and turns away from Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo looks around in shock. 

“Some other time then,” Taemin says.

Taemin leans in to kiss Jongin, who stiffens just barely. Taemin hides his hurt expression and kisses him on the cheek instead, acting like nothing was amiss before turning on his heel and disappearing.

“What was that?” Kyungsoo asks.

“That? You just insulted a faery prince. You’re lucky Taemin was busy and let you off easy this time with just that glare,” Wonshik says.

“I didn’t know that was how you felt about faeries,” Sehun mutters quietly, before heading out the door.

Wonshik looks after him with a sigh before excusing himself and following Sehun.

“Are you okay?” Jongin asks.

“What? Yeah. Come on, let’s get lunch,” Kyungsoo says.

 

Wonshik follows Sehun into Taekwoon’s library where Jinki is sitting. Sehun flops onto the couch beside Jinki and Jinki glances over at him.

“You’re broadcasting your thoughts again,” Jinki says.

“Sorry,” Sehun mutters.

“Yes the things he said were unacceptable,” Jinki says.

“Well how am I supposed to tell the rest of them? What if they’re all like Kyungsoo?” Sehun asks.

“Aren’t you all really close?” Wonshik asks.

“I guess, but everyone has drifted apart since we left our home planet and especially while we were working in the government,” Sehun says.

“I’m sure they’ll accept you for who you are. If not, they’ll be dead in another hundred years so it doesn’t really matter,” Jinki says.

“Jinki. That’s not comforting,” Wonshik says.

“It’s not? Apologies,” Jinki says, flipping another page in his book.

“Well, I don’t have to tell them yet, it’s fine,” Sehun says.

“If you’re going to teleport back home, I do hope that you have a clear picture in mind so I don’t have to fish you out of a kelpie swamp again,” Jinki says.

Sehun flushes with embarrassment, “Will you open a portal for me then?”

Jinki waves a hand and the portal opens for him. “Attempt to keep Taemin out of trouble, will you?”

 

Jin felt incredibly stupid. Not only had he just up and left the organization he had belonged to for a majority of his life, he had left it because of a pretty face. Specifically the pretty face he was not so subtly staring at from across the dinner table. Jaehwan was gonna kill him. That is, if he ever found him. The place had reeked of magic as they had led him inside, and he didn’t even see the building until they had been walking inside of it.

The base bustled with activity but Seokjin couldn’t bring himself to join in. Too confused and lost to consider being useful, he finds himself sitting quietly in a corner watching the pink haired wolf from earlier. It isn’t that he means to be obvious about it, but every time the wolf glances his way he jerks his gaze away feeling warmth flood his cheeks. 

“Um. Sorry, but a-are you new?” A deep voice pulls him from his reverie and he meets the gaze of the wolf in question. He obviously didn’t remember him.

He laughs awkwardly, “Y-yeah. That obvious?”

“We’ve all been there,” He smiles kindly, flashing a set of dimples and Seokjin’s heart melts a little bit. “I’m Namjoon.”

“Seokjin,” He returns the smile, “But almost everyone calls me Jin.” 

“Well, Jin let’s find you a place to sleep and get you settled in,” Namjoon exudes comfort and Seokjin relaxes. He still feels stupid and his brother is going to absolutely  _ murder _ him if he ever finds him, but he can’t really complain when Namjoon smiles at him and takes his hand to lead him around the base. 

 

Jaehwan takes pride in being well collected and calm under duress; however, this is not the time to be calm. This is time to panic and scream because Seokjin,  _ his little brother _ , is missing and no one gives a shit. Not only is Seokjin  _ gone _ but so is Jimin. He can’t just leave two of his teammates alone at the enemy base. At least that’s what he tells himself as he grabs a bag of clothes. It’s also that he hates this base and how they use supernatural people to further their agenda while pushing them into the dirt. He doesn’t really want to be here. He was only staying to protect Seokjin if he was being honest. But he isn’t honest with himself. He tells himself he’ll find Jin and Jimin and return like the good soldier he’s supposed to be. 

It’s surprisingly easy to leave. No one questions him and he pulls up his hood against the rain. He doesn’t know where he’s going and part of him doesn’t care as he wanders the city, trying in vain to think of places where Jin might be laying low. 

He’s about to give up and return to the PCU when a small girl takes his hand. Her smile is bright and cheery and she glows slightly in the dim light. “Follow me,” is all she says.

He knows he shouldn’t. He should go right back to the PCU report his brother missing and let them handle it, even though he knows they won’t do anything. Somehow his feet move and he’s following the girl mindlessly. 

“Master, I brought him like you asked,” She says quietly to what looks like nothing. 

Jaehwan takes a step back when a man appears. He recognizes him too. He’d seen him around the base occasionally. He doesn’t know his name, only the code name that the PCU calls him. But he knows he’s very powerful. 

“Thank you, Irene.” He kisses the top of her head and she vanishes. 

He turns and smiles at Jaehwan and Jaehwan smiles back stiffly. 

“You’re looking for your brother. I can help you.” He says. His voice is melodic and deep. It soothes Jaehwan just a bit. 

“Who are you? Where is my brother?” 

“My name is Taehyung. Your brother is with the resistance. He’s safe. I promise you that,” Taehyung smiles again. 

“What do you want?” 

Taehyung raises a brow. “What do  _ I _ want? Nothing. We could use your help at the resistance however and I’m sure your brother wants to see you. It would be such a shame to see the two of you on opposite sides of the battlefield.” 

Jaehwan carefully considers. On one hand Taehyung was the enemy. He was a traitor and not to be trusted. On the other hand, he doesn’t want to go back. He wants to see his brother. He wants to not be afraid anymore. 

“Okay. Take me to Seokjin.” 

“Perfect,” Taehyung’s fingers curl around his wrist and everything melts together. 

 

“Taemin, so I was thinking that maybe we should take a break,” Jongin says.

He won’t meet Taemin’s eyes and somehow that makes it even worse.

“A break?” Taemin echos.

“Yeah. I just need some time apart from you,” Jongin says.

“Oh. Okay. That’s fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. You need time, I’m not going to force you to be in a relationship.”

“I’m glad you understand. We’re still friends though, right?”

Jongin smiles at him and Taemin smiles back.

“Of course,” Taemin says.

He keeps the smile fixed in place as Jongin leaves the room, then his face drops back to the controlled neutral expression he normally wears. Control. Keeping control. He wouldn’t lose control here when there were so many people he cared about that could get hurt. He walks through the dimensions, trying to find one that’s abandoned enough he can release some of his frustration. No one else should have to suffer. 

He finds one dimension that looks abandoned, and he can’t sense anything around. This area already looked ravaged by war, so he figured that nothing else could make it worse. Probably. His power detonates and encases the small area in a giant dome of shadows. His power whips around, carrying the debris into the air and creating a deadly tornado that he’s the eye of. He doesn’t really know when he fell onto his knees, or when he started crying, but he can’t stop. It feels like someone had ripped out his heart. It hurts so, so much. His hands drop to his side and he can’t help but feel pathetic. No other being that he had loved had ever affected him this much, so why was it different with him?

Taemin is starting to sink into the ground and he’s not exactly sure  _ why _ . He looks around with blurry vision and discovers he’s sitting in a puddle that really looks and feels similar to tar. He gets up and wipes himself off the best he can. Leave it to his own stupidity to throw a pity party in the middle of a tar pit. He watches as it bubbles and hisses. Wait. The ground had most definitely been rock when he had gotten here. Taemin crouches down and inspects the ground below him. It was solid. Like he thought his relationship with Jongin was. He hisses in frustration and anger, then yanks back his hand when he realizes it’s sinking into the ground. There’s the perfect imprint of his hand there.

Taemin sits back and looks at his hand. So, he had done that. Destruction, much like everything else he was good at. He sighs as he curls up and rests his chin on his knees. He should’ve expected something like this, no one ever stuck around for long he knew that. Yet this time he had been stupid enough to think that it would be different.

_ “Taemin, emotions are seen as a weakness in the Unseelie Court. And when they sense weakness…” his mother had said. _

_ “They won’t hesitate to use it against you.” Taemin had finished for her, wanting to make her proud. _

_ “Exactly. Which is why you need to be better at hiding them.” _

_ “Like you?” _

_ “Like me.” she had smiled then, like sunshine. _

Taemin drags himself off of the ground and brushes himself off. A quick surge of magic changes him back into court clothing and he locks his face into one of indifference. Time to get off his ass.

 

Wonshik can’t help but notice how  _ quiet _ Taemin is. No one else really noticed because he still acted the same, still made jokes, still played pranks, and still dropped in at the most inopportune moments. But it’s different. It doesn’t  _ feel _ like normal.

“Taemin?” Wonshik asks as he comes into Taekwoon’s library.

“Yes?” Taemin drawls.

Wonshik looks up to find Taemin floating near the ceiling.

“I heard that Jongin broke up with you, are you okay?” Wonshik asks.

“Me? Of course,” Taemin says.

“I’m serious Taemin.”

“As am I.”

“You keep acting like nothing bothers you.”

“Nothing does. This is but a blink of an eye in the span of my life. Inconsequential.”

“Taemin.”

“I know you’re worried. Don’t be.”

“Tell me that you’re not bothered by Jongin hanging out with Kyungsoo, using those words.”

“I’m not-” the words die on his tongue and his mouth twists in frustration. “You’re not bothered by Jongin hanging out with Kyungsoo.”

“Taemin, you should go talk to him.”

“No. This is his choice and I’m not going to force him.”

“You can still tell him how you feel.”

“I’ve expressed how I feel for him. If he-if he doesn’t want me, then-”

Taemin seems to be curling into himself and Wonshik wishes that he could reach him.

“I’ll be his friend. Just his friend,” Taemin says firmly.

“I worry about you,” Wonshik says.

“Many do. I’m still here.”

Taemin smiles down at him and Wonshik sighs.


	15. are you fucking kidding me

Sehun just goes along with the rest of them into one of the normal training rooms. He knows it’s a bad idea when he gets a sick feeling in his stomach, but the rest of them are joking and laughing and he doesn’t want to be the one to ruin the good mood. Baekhyun and Chanyeol are joking around, and this time Sehun thinks Kyungsoo might actually kill them. He has a slightly more than usual murderous look on his face as he picks up one of the heavy weights and throws it at them. They dodge easily and begin returning fire. The rest of them press against the wall as Jongdae tries to calm them down and stop the battle involving heavy weights. Sehun barely dodges as a bar comes flying at him, scraping against his shoulder. It just barely cuts him, but instantly it’s the worst pain he’s ever felt. He slides down the wall and curls up, trying not to vomit. The world is spinning around him and he honestly doesn’t know what to do. Iron. It had been iron. Being new he was too weak and now because of his own stupidity he was dying.

_ Don’t be so dramatic. I’m on my way to you. _ Taemin’s exasperated voice says.

“Sehun? What’s wrong?” Minseok asks.

“Is he hurt?” Jongdae asks.

“Why is he so pale?” Jongin asks.

They’re all crowding around him, trying to see what’s wrong.

“It’s just a cut,” Baekhyun says.

“Come on get up, it’s not a big deal,” Chanyeol says.

“It is a big deal. For him at least,” Taemin says.

They all jump, not noticing that he had come into the room. They all back away from Sehun as the faery king approaches him. Taemin looks down at Sehun with lips pursed.

“You shouldn’t have been in here in the first place,” Taemin says.

“I know. I’m sorry,” Sehun says.

“Why shouldn’t he have been in here?” Junmyun asks.

“You didn’t tell them?” Taemin says with a frown. 

He shrugs and waves his hand and Sehun is lifted onto a cloud that trails behind Taemin. He seems intent on leaving them unanswered.

“Taemin. What didn’t he tell us?” Jongin asks.

Taemin pauses with his hand on the doorknob, schools his face into one of boredom, and looks back at the group.

“Over hill, over dale, through bush, through briar, over park, over pale, through flood, through fire. I do wander everywhere, swifter than the moon’s sphere, listen close you’ll hear them sing,” Taemin says.

“What the fuck?” Chanyeol asks.

Taemin smiles and they disappear out the door. Jongin’s mind races and he chases after them only to find an empty hall.

“Does anyone know what that was supposed to mean?” Junmyun says.

“Finish the rhyme,” Jongin whispers.

“What?” Kyungsoo asks, coming to stand beside him.

“He now serves the Faery King. That’s the end of the rhyme. Sehun is a faery.” Jongin says.

“I’m confused on how you got to that point actually,” Jongdae says.

“It’s a rhyme, just another word game they play. I just- Taemin has done that before but- none of you guys could figure that out?” Jongin asks.

They’re all looking at him with uncertainty in their eyes and he frowns. Kyungsoo wraps his arm around Jongin’s waist.

“Well at least we got it figured out, that’s good,” Kyungsoo says.

The rest of them half-heartedly agree when Kyungsoo glares at them and they return to the training room.

“Come on, let’s train,” Kyungsoo says.

Jongin tries to ignore the panging in his heart and lets Kyungsoo lace their fingers together and lead him back into the room.

 

Everyone at the base continues to keep up on their training on the off chance that what was left of the PCU would try and attack them again. The fae take no part in it, but that doesn’t stop them from hovering around the group and just generally being a nuscience. Hakyeon tries his best with trying to pick back up the sword after a couple of hundred years, much to the amusement of Taemin. Hakyeon scowls up at him.

“It isn’t that easy okay!” he snaps.

Taemin kicks his feet in the air as he floats upside down with laughter.

“You should see yourself! The you from two hundred years ago would be horrified,” Taemin says.

Hakyeon tries his best to force himself to keep a straight face even as Taekwoon starts to laugh.

“Practice makes perfect,” Taemin taunts them as the two vampires set up to mock fight each other.

“I don’t see you practicing anything, so why are you here?” Kyungsoo demands.

Taemin’s smile slips ever so slightly as he flips back around midair to face the earth user. He’s gripping a sword and scowling up at Taemin with a look that probably would’ve intimidated anyone else.

“Me? Practice? I don’t need to. I’m here to offer help with swordsmanship,” Taemin says.

“I haven’t seen you offer any help so far,” Kyungsoo says.

Taemin slowly floats to the ground, landing lightly.

“Why don’t you mock fight me? Then I can know for certain you aren’t just hanging around here,” Kyungsoo says.

Taemin gives him a deadly smile.

“Sounds interesting,” he purrs.

“No magic, just swordfighting,” Kyungsoo says.

“I agree to the terms,” Taemin says.

He gracefully draws a practice sword from the rack and faces Kyungsoo on the mat.

“Sehun has told me that you’re the best from the PCU? The rest do prefer to use guns I do suppose. Let’s see how well your skill matches up,” Taemin says.

Taehyung slides in, picking at his nails in faux disinterest. He leans against the wall, watching with a small smirk. This is gonna be good. Too bad he forgot the popcorn. 

“First one to ten hits will be declared the winner,” Jinki says.

Taemin looks over at him and smiles broadly and Jongin’s gut twists. He could remember when Taemin would smile at  _ him _ like that. Taemin faces Kyungsoo silently and holds the sword at the ready. Kyungsoo makes the first lunge and Taemin dodges looking almost  _ bored _ . Their mick fight is over nearly as quickly as it had begun, Taemin landing ten blows in the first minute and a half. Taemin holds the sword to Kyungsoo’s neck and smirks.

“Quite the shame. I would say that your sword fighting could use way more work,” Taemin says. 

He tosses the sword to the side and walks back up into midair.

“Attempt to not feel too bad, the only one who can really keep up with him is Taehyung. You never stood a chance,” Jinki says.

“In fact, dear brother,” Taehyung grins, “I think it’s been too long since we last sparred. Care to play?”

Taemin gives a small, confused smile, “Sure?”

Fae from both courts begin to creep into the room to watch the battle.

“Perfect,” Taehyung’s grin is a little too sharp to be comforting as he raises his golden sword and takes his stance. 

Taemin drops to the ground and his iron sword appears in his hand. “You know, you’re giving off some pretty bad vibes.”

“And here I thought I was sunshine incarnate,” Taehyung laughs, circling his brother. 

“We both know what that sunshine is capable of,” Taemin says, grin stretching across his face as he tracks his brother.

Taehyung makes the first move, darting forward and swinging playfully at his twin. Taemin dodges easily and swings at his brother. Their moves are familiar, having grown accustomed to the warm up moves of one another long ago. It’s when Taemin braves a quick glance at Jongin that the mood shifts. Taehyung’s eyes darken ever so slightly and his moves become quicker, more focused. He deftly dodges Taemin’s counter and his face looks strangely serious for the light hearted practice. Taemin’s smile drops and his pace quickens as he begins countering and attacking in earnest. 

It’s a swift parry and a kick to the stomach  and then Taemin’s blade clatters to the floor, Taehyung kicking it behind him with a scowl. Taemin sweeps his legs out under Taehyung’s and pulls his daggers out as he gets to his feet. Taehyung hisses something that even Taemin doesn’t understand and lunges. Taemin stabs on instinct and both blades sink into Taehyung’s stomach, blood blooms around the wounds. He pauses, face contorting in pain before it smooths back into calm anger.

“I’m actually going to kill you,” Taehyung says softly, pushing forward until both blades are buried to the hilt in his torso. 

Taemin’s face is a mask of horror, “Taehyung the left is poison.” He jerks the blades out of Taehyung even as he’s being pinned to the floor. The right blade is slick with blood and the left one is missing.

Taehyung ignores Taemin completely and the crack of his brother’s arm breaking echoes around the practice ring. Taemin cries out in pain, but turns to glare over at his hounds.

“Get him the antidote now,” he hisses.

“Maybe. If you weren’t being a pining asshole and learned from your past we wouldn’t be in this position,” Taehyung mutters, breaking Taemin’s other arm with a satisfying crunch.

Taemin doesn’t say anything as Taehyung gets to his feet, kicking him in the ribs and feeling the other fae’s ribs give under the force. The poison is starting to take effect, and he’s a little breathless but he ignores it. 

“I think you missed a rib. But I wouldn’t know because I’m just in pain.”

“Are you? Because you’re still talking. And you’re  _ still looking at him. _ ” Taehyung falls to his knees, gritting his teeth. He’s going down because of the poison but that isn’t gonna stop him from breaking his brother’s femur. The bone breaks easily under his strength. 

“Tae tae, you need the antidote. You can break the rest of my bones when you aren’t dying,” Taemin says.

“This is all your fault,” Taehyung hisses, “You can’t do this. We can’t afford to have you like this. It’s too dangerous. And for what?  _ Him? _ ”

“I know,  _ I know _ .” Taemin says, a shadow of a hand comes up to cup Taehyung’s face since he can’t move either of his actual arms and he sounds like he’s on the verge of tears. “I’m sorry, I’ll stop. I promise.”

Taehyung lets out a soft sigh of relief, curling up on the floor next to Taemin. His vision is blurry and a nap sounds perfect now that his brother has seen sense. One of the hounds approaches, takes a deep breath, and grins wildly as he jabs the needle into Taehyung and injects him with the antidote. The hound flies into the opposite wall as Taehyung jerks away from the pain of the injection. Ji Young seems to materialize from nowhere, pulling Taehyung into his arms and singing a healing hymn softly. Taemin tilts his head back until he can look at Jinki.

“I’m not helping you up,” Jinki says.

Yoongi helps Ji Young get Taehyung to his feet and the vampire murmurs soft words about resting as the advisor is thanking him for finally beating some sense into his brother. The fae clear out of the room, as do the other vampires.

“You know you deserved this,” Jinki says.

“You could at least help me heal. All the bones are going to set wrong,” Taemin says.

“Then I’ll take pleasure in breaking them again.”

“Wow that’s some kinky-” the sentence is broken off as Jinki kicks Taemin in the mouth. Taemin’s head whips to the side and he  _ laughs _ as he spits out blood and smiles up at his advisor. “I deserved that probably.”

“You deserved all of it,” Jinki says coldly.

“I get it, really I do. Now help me up please,” Taemin says, giving him puppy dog eyes.

“I should drop you off a cliff.”

“You say that a lot.”

Jinki sighs heavily and lifts Taemin into his arms.

“I’m not helping you heal,” Jinki says.

“I gathered that,” Taemin says.

They disappear and Jongin stares numbly at the place he had just been.

 

Taehyung wakes up from a short nap absolutely starving. He rubs at his face, groaning at the lingering headache. 

“I’m gonna go get some food,” Taehyung says, nudging Yoongi beside him. 

“You want me to come with you?”

“Unless you want something to snack on, I think I’ll be fine.” Taehyung smiles sweetly, pressing a kiss to Yoongi’s forehead. He slides out of bed and pads toward the elevator yawning. 

He steps inside barely paying attention until he comes face to face with Jongin. The elevator doors close and Taehyung takes a deep breath, looking at his fingernails as he purses his lips. Jongin swallows hard, then finds himself pinned against the wall with Taehyung’s arm nearly crushing his windpipe.

“I just beat the shit out of my brother because of  _ you _ . So either fix whatever it is that you did or get out. Because he’s trying to fight two wars. One here and one in our realm and he can’t be fighting with himself over some mortal who won’t give him the time of day.” Taehyung hisses and Jongin is suddenly struck with how  _ terrifying _ Taehyung can be. 

The elevator doors open and Taehyung moves away as if nothing had happened, breezing through the doors and accepting the highfive of a grinning hound as he passes. The hound gives Jongin a slow once over before raising one brow. 

“Are you going to get out of the elevator or should I use the stairs?” the hound asks.

“It’s all yours,” Jongin mutters as he shoves his hands in his pockets and heads in the opposite direction Taehyung had.

 

Taehyung knocks on Hoseok’s door, “Hobi?” 

“Come in.” 

Taehyung slips through the door, shutting it behind him. 

Hoseok is curled up on his bed, a large tome in his hand as he reads by enchanted candle light, but he looks up when Taehyung crawls onto the bed next to him. 

“What’s up?” 

Taehyung shrugs, “Nothing really. I just wanted to be near you.” He curls up next to Hoseok, pillowing his head on his leg. 

“What about Yoongi?”

“He’ll come visit when he’s done napping.” 

It’s rare to see Taehyung this subdued and Hoseok relishes in the fact that he’s one of the few who gets to witness it. Absently he runs his fingers through Taehyung’s hair, humming softly. It’s mindless really, but Taehyung relaxes into the touch, smiling. 

“I love when you sing,” Taehyung says softly. 

Hoseok laughs, “I wasn’t even singing.” 

“But when you do.” Taehyung stubbornly insists, nuzzling into his thigh. 

True to Taehyung’s word, Yoongi creeps into the room about half an hour later. He takes in the scene of Taehyung napping against Hoseok while he reads and smiles. He climbs up on the small bed, pushing Hoseok’s book aside and tapping Taehyung. 

Hoseok raises a questioning brow, but doesn’t say anything as Yoongi settles into his lap. Taehyung lifts his head and shifts to burrow into Yoongi’s stomach. 

“Mhm, what babe?”

“Nothing you’re just cute,” Yoongi whispers, pulling Taehyung more securely into his embrace. 

“Not that I don’t enjoy seeing my boyfriends, but any particular reason both of you decided to come while I was studying?” 

“No,” the two say in unison, sharing matching grins. 

 

Wonshik visits the room Taemin has been put in to heal. Taemin is staring at the ceiling when he comes in and doesn’t even glance at him. So, Taemin was still pouting.

“How’s it going?” Wonshik asks.

“Well, most of my bones are broken. How would you be doing?” Taemin asks.

“You’re healing.”

“Slowly, without help, and I’m not enjoying the constant pressure of having to bury my feelings. But yes, in a loose sense of the word I am healing.”

“Taemin…”

“Distract me.”

“What?”

“Give me a distraction, please.”

Wonshik hesitates for a second before he thinks through a plan. Well, not so much a plan as something incredibly stupid and impulsive.

“Will you turn me into a faerie?”

“What?” Taemin finally takes his eyes off the ceiling to give him a disbelieving look.

“Turn me into a fae,” Wonshik repeats.

“You want to be a fae in my court? Even with how shitty I’ve been?”

“Of course. I’ll put up with your stupidity for eternity.”

Taemin laughs and manages to sit up with only minor jabs of pain.

“Get Jinki, we need to go to the realm,” Taemin says.

 

Taehyung’s head is pillowed in Hoseok’s lap as the warlock rubs his temples. The faery had stumbled in, pain blurring his eyesight early in the morning. He had been nearly incoherent with pain but Hoseok had pulled him into bed and started doing what he could. 

The magic is simple enough, healing spells as well as pain management spells. By virtue of the migraines they’re not easy to get rid of and Taehyung knows that but he still can’t help but feel like he needs to get better immediately. He’s not used to sitting aside and waiting for things to heal. His fingers twitch anxiously as Hoseok hums softly. 

“Do you want me to find Yoongi?” Hoseok offers and Taehyung shakes his head. 

“He’s busy today and I don’t want him to worry about me,” he mumbles, nuzzling into Hoseok’s thigh. 

Hoseok laughs, “He’s gonna worry regardless, you know that right?”

“Shhhh.” 

Another chuckle and Hoseok leans back into the pillows, still playing with Taehyung’s soft hair as he sighs. 

“Besides, it’ll fade soon enough. They usually only last a few hours.”  

They pass the time in the dark except for one purple candle on Hoseok’s desk, dripping wax onto the papers under it. Taehyung managed to fall into the space between sleep and alertness, eyes closed and fingers tightly gripping the fabric of Hoseok’s shirt. He dozes for an hour or so before sitting up and rubbing at his temples.

“It’s mostly gone. Thank you Hobi,” he smiles and presses kiss to his lips, gentle and soft. 

Hoseok smiles and returns the kiss, “Anything I can do to help,” he murmurs.

 

Taemin wanders idly down the halls of the base. Dinner would be ready soon and because he had been bothering Taekwoon he had been sent to gather everyone from the training rooms. He floats idly down hall humming a bit as he goes. He didn’t need the human food, but Taekwoon’s cooking was always delicious. He checks all the room as he floats past, informing people when he comes across them. He’s reaching the end of the hall when he sees them.

Kyungsoo and Jongin are in one of the last training rooms and it’s less working out than making out. Taemin presses his fingers against the glass of the door and watches as frost spreads out from his fingertips. He shoves his sadness away and opens the door, ignoring how they guiltily jump apart.

“Taemin!” Jongin says.

“Dinner’s ready,” Taemin says, kicking back so he floats away from the door.

He continues down the hall with his face locked into an expression of boredom. Showing that it bothered him would never do. If he pretended he was fine for long enough then he would be. He sits between Kibum and Jinki for the meal and tries to ignore just how close Kyungsoo is sitting to Jongin. The table might be crowded, but it isn’t  _ that _ crowded. Everyone finishes with their meal and the table clears out, leaving only the fae there looking as if they were ready to stage an intervention. He was trying, damn it, trying to move the fuck on like everyone wanted him to but it was  _ hard _ .

“Taemin. Taemin!” Jinki snaps.

“What?” he whines.

He looks down to where they’re all staring at his hand that’s slowly eating its way through the table.

“Shit,” Taemin says, yanking his hand back.

The handprint is bubbling still and Taemin kind of feels bad. With a surge of magic the table regrows and there’s nothing left of the handprint. He meets Taehyung’s semi-murderous gaze from across the table, then Taemin spins on his heel and teleports away.

 

Jinki finds Taemin lying on his back in the middle of his flower field. He stands over him, blocking the moonlight, and waits for Taemin to open his eyes.

“Yes?” Taemin asks.

“Are you really going to sit here and pout?” Jinki asks.

“Do you have a problem with that?”

“Actually I do. This isn’t how the ruler of the Unseelie Court should act.”

“Would it make you feel better if I went out and started a war?”

“At least you would be doing something.”

“Rude.”

“Taemin, how long do you plan on moping? Still? He’s already moved on, so why are you holding yourself back?”

“I thought he would be different.”

Taemin’s eyes wander away from Jinki’s face and he sighs.

“You just need to find someone else to annoy with your presence,” Jinki says.

“If you’re trying to make me feel better it isn’t working,” Taemin says, but a smile tugs at his lips all the same.

Jinki stretches out a hand and Taemin takes it and pulls himself to his feet. He laughs as Jinki ruffles his hair and leans into the touch.

“I’m moving on,” Taemin says.

“Promise?” Jinki says.

“Yes.”

 

Aisling dances her way to where Namjoon had taken a seat. He looks up as she approaches.

“Aisling,” he greets.

“Namjoon,” she smiles. “My Gabriel would just like you to know, that if you ever found yourself in need of a pack the Hounds would gladly take you in. Of course, we do hope that you join us on a more permanent basis.”

Namjoon considers it carefully. On one hand he was a little attached to his mortality. Not enough that immortality didn’t sound appealing, but just enough that he wondered what he’d miss if he chose that option. On the other hand, he had felt perfectly at home with the hounds. There wasn’t a need to explain himself they simply accepted. 

“... What would it take for me to become a hound permanently?”

Aisling’s smile sharpens. “Well, it would be much like how it was before, plus the pain of your mortal body shifting to that of a fae.”

Biting his lip in consideration, Namjoon nods. “Okay. Okay. How long would that take?”

“It will not take long,” she laughs. “You will be able to be back with your beau soon enough.”

Running his tongue along his teeth, Namjoon’s cheeks turn red. “Fuck it. Let’s do it.” 

 

Sehun watches as Jongin paces up and down the training room. He had stopped training a while ago, too absorbed in his own thoughts and Sehun floats in the air awkwardly. Taemin made it look easy to float, but Sehun is finding out that it’s a lot harder than it looks. Sehun struggles to keep himself level as he floats, aiming for the same disinterested look that Tamin always had.

“So what’s up with you today?” Sehun asks.

Jongin sighs heavily, “I just. All of the fae are going after me and I don’t know why.”

“You don’t?” 

“Taemin didn’t even like me! He flirted with everyone!”

Sehun falls out of the air in shock, landing roughly on the ground in a heap.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Sehun says.

“What?” Jongin says.

“He’s totally in love with you, you moron!”

“WHAT?”

“HOW DID YOU NOT NOTICE?”

“He flirted with everyone.”

“So? That’s how fae are. He truly liked you idiot.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Okay, I’m a fae. I literally can’t lie. Taemin was in love with you. If you want him back, you need to step up your game.”

Sehun picks himself off the floor and resumes floating in the air.

 

They’re enjoying a pleasant dinner when the hounds show up. Immediately it’s a blanket of fear over the entire group despite their attempt to glamour most of it. Taemin looks up from his dinner with a frown as he realizes that they have a prisoner being forcibly held by the Gabriel and his second Aisling.

“Gabriel, what is this?” Taemin asks.

“The gancanagh that led the small rebellion my king,” the Gabriel answers.

Taemin purses his lips as he gets up from his seat and walks over to them. The rebel is forced to kneel and Taemin looks down at him in disappointment.

“I was enjoying dinner, and you interrupted. Now I’ve lost my appetite. You should thank Taekwoon for making such an excellent meal,” Taemin says.

The prisoner looks up at him with hatred and Taemin’s hand darts out to grab the gancanagh by the chin, forcing him to look over at the vampire.

“Say thank you,” Taemin hisses, fingers digging in.

“T-t-thank you,” the gancanagh whimpers.

Taemin smiles serenely and grabs the fae’s head gently between his hands.

“Now, why would you be this stupid?” Taemin asks as the fae begins to whimper. “I was being perfectly nice, and you ruined that.”

The whimpers grow in volume, then they turn into screams. Taemin continues to smile down at the fae as he screams horribly. Finally, the screams die down into whimpers, and then just nothing. Taemin releases him and the fae slumps to the ground, staring blankly at the empty space in front of him. Taemin dusts off his hands and steps over the fae on the ground, disappearing with the hounds.

Jinki looks at the fae in distaste before going back to his dinner. Kyungsoo stares at the fallen fae with a horrified expression. That could’ve been him.

Taehyung rubs his temples and sighs before snapping his fingers and the gancanagh vanishes. “Apologies. My brother can sometimes be a bit… impulsive. Please, continue with dinner.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> exo's lotto has ruined my life
> 
> i'm a sinner


	16. i'm chasing butterflies

Dinner never really seems complete without one of the fae crashing in, it’s almost expected at this point. However, when Taemin steps delicately onto the table to avoid the dishes, Jongin never expects him to look  _ that _ good. Taemin is in a tight leather outfit and it hugs every angle of his body perfectly, the front of the leather shirt is open and it perfectly shows off Taemin’s chest. His blonde hair is combed away from his face and kohl lines his eyes making him look sharp and dangerous and perfect. Jongin chokes on his drink. Tears form in his eyes as he attempts to not drown himself and Kyungsoo hits him on the back. He finally manages to breathe again on his own and looks up to where Taemin is looking at him with a smirk. Taemin gives him an absolutely lewd wink and steps off the table. His boots hit the ground with a soft thump and he smiles at the rest of the group. 

“My club is holding a celebration tonight. You’re all invited if you want to come,” Taemin smiles.

Taemin disappears in a snap and the Unseelie fae in the room give a whoop of laughter before they start disappearing as well. Sehun grins widely from across the table and meets Jongin’s eyes before latching onto Junmyun and disappearing. Jinki gives him a particularly smug look before he disappears as well, like he just expected Jongin to just sit there. Not this time. What was the best way to gain a fae’s attention? Look good. Jongin teleports to his room and quickly changes, from what he knew about fae parties they always were fast paced and he needed to get there quickly. He chooses his own pair of leather pants as well as a white button down shirt before teleporting to the outside of the club. The bouncer regards him with suspicion before letting him in anyway after Jongin flashes the silver wristband that still showed up. That was probably a good sign, Taemin probably didn’t hate him.

The club is loud and nearly overwhelming. Smoke hangs heavily in the air and there are multi-colored drinks in nearly every hand. The first floor is filled mostly with humans and Jongin pushes his way through the crowd, taking a drink when it’s offered to him. He was fairly certain that nothing in here would really hurt him, he knew Taemin had done something with him so he would be protected. The drink takes effect almost immediately and Jongin feels pleasantly buzzed as he descends the stairs to the second floor. The second floor holds a mix of mostly supernaturals and a few humans. He ignores them, trying to look above them. To catch a fae, you had to gain their attention, and to gain their attention… well he wasn’t really sure how. So Jongin pretends that he isn’t looking for their attention, like he’s above it all. He descends another level and this is where the fae are all hanging out. Most of them are too drunk to notice him, but a few of the Unseelie do and give him dirty looks as he passes.

Jongin ignores the looks and lets himself get spun into the music. He dances along freely, moving to the enchanted beat. Dancing was a lot like fighting, and he was pretty good at both. He knows his plan is working when he can feel eyes on him. He ignores them and continues to dance. After a few minutes he pauses briefly to glance around and- _ oh _ . Taemin is staring at him from across the dance floor with a heated gaze, not breaking his stare even as he continues to dance. Jongin smirks as he continues his own dancing, the fae around him drawing off his own energy and dancing with him. He’s glad that he’s mostly drunk, or else the hungry stares from the fae around him would probably be worrying. Well, at least he knows he’s good at catching fae attention as stupid as that may be. 

The music gets louder, Jongin gets drunker, and the dancing continues. He doesn’t know how long he’s been dancing, but he doesn’t feel tired. When hands grab his waist he just rolls with it, loving how someone here can finally match his tempo. He closes his eyes and lets himself match them as well. They move in synch and Jongin opens his eyes in time to grab out for their hand for a spin. A shock goes through him as he realizes that it’s Taemin who’s dancing with him, and as the spin finishes he pulls Jongin closer to him.

“You’re here?” Taemin asks.

“Of course,” Jongin says.

Taemin pulls him towards where he knows the secret room the fae use is with Jinki glaring at them the entire time. The curtain is pulled back, and Taemin pulls them inside the empty room. Jongin feels himself pushed against the wall a half second before Taemin’s mouth is on his. Instinctively he kisses back, winding his hands through Taemin’s hair that lightens into white at his touch. Taemin seems to realize what he’s doing and pushes back, stumbling away from Jongin and tugging at his hair. 

“I shouldn’t have done that. Why are you here?” Taemin says.

“I came because I wanted to,” Jongin says.

“Ah, I forced you here. And I kissed you. You should go, just go.”

“Taemin. I came because I wanted to.”

“I don’t believe that.”

Taemin begins to pace.

“Taemin, I don’t want to go.”

“What?”

“I want to stay here, with you.”

“ _ What? _ ”

Taemin pauses to stare at him.

“I might be finally able to get my goddamn foot out of my mouth because I’m drunk, but that battle. Shit Taemin, that battle just kind of put things in perspective for me.”

“What do you mean?”

“People died, I lived. And now I’m just going to do things the way I want to rather than waiting around for something to happen. And Sehun and your brother made me realize just how much I cared about you.”

“The last time we were together… things just didn’t work out.” Taemin’s eyes drop from his face to stare at the floor.

“Because of me, not you.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“It does.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because it’s true.”

“I can’t- I can’t be what you want. I can’t date just you-”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Why not? It mattered before!”

“I realized that I was acting like you were someone from my home planet.”

Taemin frowns at him.

“On my home planet, things were different. There, you devote yourself entirely to one person forever. And when I got here, I just assumed that that’s how things were here too.”

“Oh.”

“And now, I know that. I know that you love more than one person at a time, and honestly? I’m okay with that.”

“You are?”

“I am.”

Jongin doesn’t think as he just grabs Taemin’s face between his hands and pulls him in for a kiss.

 

Yoongi is  _ drunk _ . He’s been sipping Taehyung’s blood since the party began and the faery blood thrums in his veins. Taehyung is equally drunk, a glass of enchanted ale in his hand as he dances to the beat. However Yoongi doesn’t think Taehyung has any idea how sinful he’s being out there on the dancefloor. His hips are grinding back against Hoseok’s, who has a firm but gentle grip on the faery’s hips. Hoseok throws his head back, adam’s apple bobbing as Taehyung arches into his grip, reaching behind him to grab a handful of hair. 

Yoongi licks his lips at the sight before remembering that yes. Those are  _ his _ boyfriends and he can join them. He tries really hard not to stumble as he joins them, throwing his arms around Taehyung’s neck and pressing himself impossibly close. He mouths down Taehyung’s neck and he feels more than hears the low rumble of him moaning. Hoseok hums his approval leaning forward to steal a kiss from the vampire. Taehyung’s ale seems to vanish and then his free hand is clutching Yoongi’s waist, fingers digging in. 

“We should-” Hoseok tries, pulling away from Yoongi as the man goes back to Taehyung’s neck, littering him with hickeys. “We should definitely go somewhere a little less public.” 

Taehyung mumbles in approval tugging his boyfriends towards a yellow door in the corner of the club. “In here. Taemin -ah- Taemin gave it to me for occasions such as these,” 

“Thank god,” Yoongi growls and Hoseok laughs, locking the door behind them. 

 

Yoo Kwan watches Yoongi’s drunken antics with awe. He hadn’t know that faery blood made vampires drunk. God he misses getting drunk. However, he is at a fae party, surrounded by faeries and he’s never really had any shame so he says fuck it and ambles up to one of the faeries he recognizes from the base. He thinks his name is Taeil. He’s short and swaddled in a huge scarf despite the sweltering heat of the club. 

Taeil gives him an appraising look as he approaches, and smiles slightly. 

“So,” he smiles back, “I have a very… strange question to ask you.” 

The mer hums, “Go ahead.”

“Will you let me drink your blood? Cause like Yoongi got drunk from Taehyung and I  _ really _ want to be drunk.” He blurts. 

A startled laugh escapes Taeil’s mouth and he slowly unravels his scarf. “I don’t see why you can’t join in on the festivities. Although, I must ask. Why me?” 

“You look familiar,” Yoo Kwan shrugs, “And you’re not too bad looking either.” 

Taeil laughed again and tilted his head to the side, “I shouldn’t deny you a drink for much longer. You must be parched.” 

Yoo Kwan hummed and leaned in, skimming his nose along Taeil’s neck before biting down on the juncture of his neck. Humming in delight, he caresses Taeil’s cheek as the mer grasps at his hair. The faery blood is sweet on his tongue and Yoo Kwan can feel himself getting intoxicated as he drinks. After what feels like a decent amount of blood he pulls away, licking his lips messily. Taeil follows the action closely mirroring the action and Yoo Kwan stumbles a little closer. 

 

Junmyun isn’t really sure why Sehun had dragged him out to this club but he really isn’t complaining. Sehun looks like sin. The loose silk shirt he’s wears drapes across his form in ways that Junmyun really hadn’t thought he’d ever noticed and his jeans are sinfully tight. Junmyun clutches the drink in his hand a little tighter watching Sehun sway his hips. 

Sehun chuckles, pulling Junmyun away from his position leaning against the wall. “It’s a party. Act like it,”

Junmyun rolls his eyes, grabbing Sehun’s waist and dragging him closer. “Is that so?” 

Sehun just laughs again, taking the elder’s lead and dancing to the beat. He presses a quick kiss to the top of Junmyun’s head and the elder backs him toward the wall. Sehun follows until his back brushes the wall and then spins, caging Junmyun with his arms and smiling down at him almost shyly. 

Junmyun takes the chance and pulls Sehun down to his height, stretching up to press their lips together. Sehun melts into the kiss, wrapping an arm around Junmyun’s waist pulling him up closer. Instinctively, Junmyun wraps his legs around Sehun’s hips to steady himself and he pulls away with a breathless laugh. 

“Eager are we?” 

Sehun smirks, shrugging. “Maybe I am. So sue me.”

“Not that I’m shy, but maybe we should consider moving this little party elsewhere.” Junmyun suggests, kissing Sehun one last time before allowing himself to be lead out of the club. 

 

Jonghyun catches Taemin as he’s rushing down the hall, literally plucking him out of the air. Taemin thrashes against him until Jonghyun puts him back down on his feet.

“What the hell Jonghyun?” Taemin demands with a glare. “I was just about to get the last slice of Taekwoon’s pie and now  _ Taehyung got to it first. _ ”

“Sorry, I just-” Jonghyun starts.

“You look like shit.” Taemin interrupts.

Jonghyun looks up at Taemin who’s looking down at him with wide eyes. That damn innocent expression had probably gotten him out of most of the trouble he gets himself into. Jonghyun’s hands shift to frame his face and Taemin’s eyes widen in understanding like he could sense everything that had happened to him.

“It’s Amber, isn’t it?” Taemin asks.

“Help me forget?” Jonghyun asks.

The words resonate with him and he could remember asking Jinki the exact same thing.

“No regrets?” Taemin asks.

“With you? Never,” Jonghyun says.

Jonghyun’s hands wind in Taemin’s hair as he pulls him in for a kiss. He had almost forgotten how sweet fae taste, but he easily remembers the addiction. Taemin smiles against his mouth as he pulls the demon impossibly closer. Taemin shifts to trail kisses down Jonghyun’s neck.

“Should we take this somewhere else?” Jonghyun says, failing in his attempts to not sound breathless.

Taemin hums in response and Jonghyun picks him up, Taemin’s legs wind around his waist and he continues with the soft kisses. Jonghyun somehow finds his way back to his room even with Taemin being a huge distraction. They both fall into the bed with loose control over their powers and Jonghyun is reminded of when they used to date on a regular basis. They were both strong enough that they couldn’t hurt one another, one of the benefits of not being mortal. With Taemin, he didn’t have to treat him like a piece of glass that could shatter if he wasn’t careful. He can feel Taemin’s hands burning marks into his skin and his attention is pulled back to the smiling fae under him.

 

Taemin wakes up so very sore. He sleepily props himself up on his elbows and glances over to where Jonghyun is still asleep in the bed. He climbs out of the bed and checks out his reflection in the mirror. There are bruises or burns covering nearly every inch of his body and he can’t help but laugh. Being with Jonghyun was easy, they could just exist together without a care. Of course, that probably came from knowing him for so long. Jonghyun looks to be in nearly the same condition he is, but the bruises and burns will fade by this evening. Jonghyun peels his face from his pillow and squints at him.

“Leaving so soon?” he asks.

“It’s the middle of the afternoon,” Taemin says.

“Is it really? Damn.”

Taemin pulls on whatever clothing is in reach, which happens to be his pants and one of Jonghyun’s sweatshirts.

“I’m going to go find Jinki,” Taemin says.

“If he ever wants to join in on the fun, he’s always welcome,” Jonghyun says.

“I’ll tell him that.”

Taemin makes his way down the halls of the base, pulling a glamour over himself so he has long brown hair to cover the bruising. He finds Jinki in one of the smaller sitting rooms, curled up on a couch and reading a book. 

“Jinki!” Taemin says.

He smiles as Jinki looks up at him with an eyebrow raised.

“Why do you reek of a demon?” Jinki asks.

“Well, that’s probably because I slept with Jonghyun last night?” Taemin says.

He curls up next to Jinki and leans his head on his shoulder. Jinki huffs and flips the page of his book with a little more force than was necessary. Taemin worms his way into his lap, knocking the book onto the ground in the process, and looks up at Jinki with a small smile.

“You wouldn’t happen to be jealous, would you?” Taemin asks.

Jinki’s eyes narrow. “I’m not-” he breaks off as he can’t finish the sentence and Taemin’s smile grows.

“You are,” Taemin purrs.

“I think I would’ve been more jealous if you wouldn’t have come here,” Jinki says.

Jinki catches his hand and yanks down the sleeve, revealing the bruises that were still there.

“I assume this is how the rest of you looks?” Jinki asks.

“It is,” Taemin says.

Jinki presses a soft kiss to the bruise on his arm and heals it. He keeps repeating the action until the exposed skin on his arm is back to normal.

“You know there’s an easier way to do this,” Taemin says.

“Maybe I want to take my time,” Jinki says.

Taemin reaches up to wind his healed hand through Jinki’s hair and impatiently pulls Jinki’s mouth to his. Jinki breaks the kiss with a laugh.

“Stop teasing me,” Taemin pouts.

The bruises have already started to fade, aided by Jinki healing him.

“You’re fun to tease,” Jinki says.

Jongin pauses as he passes by the door, then peeks his head inside. Jinki squints at him and then frowns as Jongin makes his way inside the room.

“Jongin!” Taemin says happily, opening his arms in a clear invitation.

Jongin wearily eyes Jinki as he approaches them and before he can make the move for himself Taemin pulls him down on top of both of them. Jinki huffs at his added weight but doesn’t make the move to push him off. Jinki’s hand absently runs through Jongin’s hair and Jongin slowly relaxes into the touch. Jinki might hate him, but as long as Taemin was there he would be civil. Taemin presses a kiss to the side of Jongin’s head and he laces his hand with Jinki’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://66.media.tumblr.com/301509ab5b1b04ff5f1b6bfc94497f89/tumblr_oaye52LDLl1rvf2eqo4_400.gif  
> taemin for the chapter
> 
> we watched lotto. we sinned. this happened.


	17. i hope i can close my eyes without regrets

“What do you mean we’re going to summon a whole bunch of demons?” 

“Just that. We’re going to summon a whole bunch of demons and sic ‘em on the resistance. We gotta get rid of them once and for all and even they can get overrun with rabid demons. Particularly if we don’t attach them to handlers.” 

“How will  _ we  _ deal with the demons if they do in fact get rid of the resistance then?”

“They’ll take each other out.” 

 

“Um guys?” Amber says, “I hate to be the bearer of bad news but Jjong and I have some bad news.” 

“What the fuck? Don’t drag me into this,” Jonghyun mutters even as he stands up and joins her at the front of the room. 

“What’s going on?” Hakyeon asks. He’d assembled everyone because Jung Soo had asked and this seemed to be the reason. 

“Well,” Amber grimaces, “There are a shit ton of demons destroying downtown.”

Jonghyun nods, “They were summoned by the government, but they don’t have handlers so they’re just mindlessly destroying in our general direction.”

“Great,” Hoseok mumbles, rubbing his temples. “Just when we think things are going to stop being awful. This shit happens.” 

Taehyung absently pats his boyfriend’s back, scrying for the image of destruction and displaying it on the wall for everyone to see. 

“This will be fun!” Gabriel says.

Taemin rubs his temples, “More like a giant headache.”

“Everybody better suit up because we need to get on this fast,” Jiho says, standing and rolling out his neck. 

Taehyung made a small grimace as he summoned a one way portal with Taemin’s help. “We’ll leave this open. It’ll get you to the battle but it won’t take you back.” 

“What the hell were they thinking?” Jeongguk mutters as he walks through the portal, holding tightly onto Jimin’s hand. 

Jimin simply shrugs, gently pulling his hand out of Jeongguk’s grip as he shifts forms. 

 

It’s chaos. Taemin pulls out his mother’s sword as well as another he’s claimed as his own. 

“Hounds to me!” Gabriel shouts.

His voice seems to ring across the grounds unnaturally and shadows gather around Taemin as the hounds are summoned to his side. Their glamour flows easily, making everyone feel uncomfortable and raising fear levels of the enemy. If demons could feel fear. They probably could. At least, it sure looked like fear in the seconds before Taemin had beheaded one of them. He finds himself back to back with Jinki as they fight, tearing into the demons that just keep coming. 

“Have you seen Jongin?” Taemin asks.

“Is he the only one you care about here?” Jinki asks.

“I am protecting your back here.”

Jinki rolls his eyes and tears through another demon.

“Jongin is fine. He’s holding his own and he’s with Aisling,” Jinki says.

“That’s good,” Taemin says cheerfully.

He can hear the cackling of the hounds around him as they tear into the demons and he thinks that this might not be too bad.

 

Yoongi can see Hoseok holding his own against a demon that seems to tower over him and he aches to go help, but he knows that he’d only get in the way so he sucks it up. The two demons he’s facing aren’t much of a challenge, too high on the freedom of being without a handler to pose much of a threat to him, despite the carnage they were creating. 

From the corner of his eye he can see Taehyung fighting at least three with his right hand man, Kilian. He seems to be doing well. His bright aura burns the demons at they stand. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Yoongi tears into the throat of the nearest demon. Demon blood tastes awful. It tastes of ash and charcoal and stains his mouth and chin black. The acidic burn against his skin makes him grimace but he shrugs it off, breaking the demon’s neck for good measure before dropping a lit match onto the body. The body goes up in flames and he turns his attention to the other one who only now seems to notice him. 

The demon lurches for him and Yoongi sidesteps. The claws raking down his back burn and he hisses, fumbling for his matches as he pulls a molotov cocktail out of his bag. The demon laughs as he lights the bottle. 

“What’s that going to do leech?” 

Yoongi just shrugs flinging it at the demon’s feet and then mumbling a few words in latin as the demon’s laughter turns to screams. 

 

Hoseok is trying his best to just stay out of the way and build demon traps to maintain their position. He doesn’t have the energy to be out on the front lines fighting like Yoongi or Taehyung so he does what he can. He isn’t sure he’s even being much help but he does the only things he can, murmuring in dead languages and trapping the demons he has no hope of killing. As he moves further into the fighting he dodges more and more, whispering healing spells to those who need them and painting sigils on street signs. 

The demon comes out of nowhere, looming over Hoseok with a twisted grin. Hoseok yelps stumbling back, dodging a swipe. There’s nothing he can do but run. Heart in his throat he turns, ignoring the dark chuckle behind him.

Taehyung dives in front of Hoseok, shielding him bodily from the cursed knife. “Get out of here. There are too many of them.” He yells, pulling the knife out and grimacing as the demons perk up at the scent of faery blood. 

“Let me help,” Hoseok pleads and Taehyung shakes his head. 

“You can. From a safe distance.” Taehyung promises, shielding them to press a swift kiss to his lips. “Now go. Keep Yoongi safe.” 

Hoseok gives him a final, “Please be safe,” before retreating to Yoongi’s side. 

Taehyung breathes a sigh of relief and uncoils his whip. His rowan men are at his side attempting to help but it’s becoming difficult to hold their position. The demons, without handlers, are summoning more of their brethren to increase their numbers and the fae just can’t keep up. 

“Kilian, try to get a unit to get behind them.” Taehyung ordered, whip curling around the throat of a demon and cutting through muscle and bone with frightening ease. 

It only takes a half second. Taehyung hears Yoongi scream “Hobi!” and he turns without thinking of the consequences. Hoseok is stumbling to his feet, blood trickling from his nose and Yoongi’s expression is relieved. When Taehyung turns back to the battle he’s faced with cold iron. It pierces his chest easily, sinking through layers of flesh until the hilt of the sword is pressed to his skin. The demon cackles in triumph, raising the sword until Taehyung’s feet no longer touch the ground. Taehyung makes a choked sound, gasping for breath and distantly he can hear the sound of someone screaming his name. 

The demon’s head is separated from it’s body and the body falls to the ground as a barrier wraps it’s way around Taehyung. Taehyung falls in slow motion, Taemin rushing to catch him before he can actually touch the ground then lowering him gently the rest of the way. Taemin is chanting in one of the old languages, trying to find something that would heal him, anything that could heal him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> brace yourselves, midterms are coming. actually they're here.
> 
> though the chapter be short  
> this story is long  
> we're drawing to a close  
> join now in song
> 
> over hill over dale  
> through brush through briar  
> wish upon a star  
> this does not all end in fire


	18. i'm not the same me as yesterday

The iron burns in his chest, spreading ice through his veins and he shivers, coughing weakly. Taemin is bent over him, desperately trying to heal him. But it’s too late for that. Iron poisoning has already set in, making his vision blur. His head feels heavy and fuzzy but he forces himself to do his duty. 

“J-Ji Young,” Taehyung gasps and the advisor doesn’t need the order finished before he’s darting around the battlefield and saving who he can. 

Taehyung raises a hand to cup his brother’s face, smoothing his trembling fingers over wet cheeks. “It won’t work.” 

“No. It has to,” Taemin says.

“Taemin,” his voice is soft and pained, “You know it won't. Please don't hurt yourself trying to do the impossible.” 

Taemin shifts him until his brother’s head is in his lap, still trying to pull away as much of the pain as he can. “It should’ve been me.”

“Don't,” Taehyung’s voice is sharp and he hisses as he shifts, desperate to make his twin understand. “Don't do that to yourself Minnie.”

Taehyung hasn't called him Minnie since they were children. Taemin curls around him tighter. He can feel the things outside trying to get in, trying to hurt Taehyung more than they already have, and his control slips even more. The shadows start to look like wings as they curl around the twins.

Taehyung lets out a slow breath, closing his eyes briefly to gather himself. “Keep them safe for me,” he asks, and Taemin knows he's talking about Yoongi and Hoseok. 

“You know I will,” Taemin promises, his tears falling onto Taehyung’s face.

“Minnie, I’m scared,” Taehyung’s lips tremble. His skin is cold to the touch and his hair is slowly losing the bright orange he’d chosen for battle. It fades closer to black with every wheezing breath. 

“It’s gonna be okay. You’re going to see mom and dad again.” 

Tears form in Taehyung’s eyes, “But I don’t want you to be alone.”  His voice is faint.

“I love you Taehyung,” Taemin whispers.

Taehyung graces Taemin with a small smile as the light seems to fade from his eyes and his body goes limp. Taemin buries his face in Taehyung’s neck as a sob forces its way out. It’s so  _ quiet  _ in his mind. He is alone, truly alone for the first time in his life and the pain is  _ unbearable _ . His power detonates, encasing the entire battlefield in a dome of shadows. He stands shakily, unwilling to let go of his brother. The beings who are left are frozen under the pressure of his power and Taemin just doesn’t care anymore. There’s movement that catches his eye and he turns, power automatically whipping out toward whatever it is. It’s Far Dorcha himself, and the attack curls harmlessly around him.

“Lord Taemin, you need to let him go,” Far Dorcha says.

Taemin’s fingers curl tighter around Taehyung’s limp body. “No.”

“He has moved on, his shell will be taken care of. Honored properly.”

“I can’t let him go, I can’t. He needs me. I can’t leave him.”

Far Dorcha gently lays his hands over Taemin’s.

“I can’t leave my little brother,” Taemin’s voice cracks.

Far Dorcha gently pulls Taehyung’s body away from Taemin.

“You are in charge of the realm. Do not let them down. They need you now,” Far Dorcha says.

Taemin presses a kiss to Taehyung’s forehead and steps back. As Far Dorcha walks away, the glint of golden metal catches his eye. Taemin stretches out a hand and the golden whip responds, coming to rest in his hand. He flicks the whip out, testing it and enjoying the way it feels. It still feels like Taehyung’s energy. Taemin turns to where the stragglers are in various states of frozen.

“None of you will survive this,” Taemin promises.

He lets them move again, purely for the chase. No one here would be able to escape him. The whip flicks out and wraps around one of the human officials, he was probably important to someone. Taemin sends a shock of energy through the whip, making the human scream out loud. Taemin yanks him close and grabs his face roughly.

“Was it you who summoned the demons?” Taemin asks.

“No! No! I swear it wasn’t me!” the human says.

“I don’t believe you. Should I torture the answer out of you?”

“Don’t you have a heart!?” 

“A heart?” Taemin echos, head tilting to the side.

The human makes a gurgling sound as Taemin’s hand goes through his chest. He pulls out the human’s heart and it gives a couple of beats before going still. He drops both the body and the heart to the ground.

“A heart? No, not anymore,” Taemin says, stepping over the body.

 

Ji Young drops to his knees when he feels Taehyung die, breath punching out of him in a soft wheeze. The rest of the Seelie court follows his lead, bowing their heads and dropping down to their knees. Jinki leans against Ji Young for support, hand against his chest. 

“What happened?” Yoongi asks, reaching out for Hoseok’s hand, heart in his throat. 

Instead of an answer Ji Young lets out a keening noise, curling further into himself. 

Dread curls in Hoseok’s stomach as he takes in the way all the fae are in similar states. “We need to get inside there and help,” he says. 

“No.” all of the fae answer eerily at the same time.

“Wow okay, that was creepy,” Jongin says, seeming to appear from nowhere.

“We need to figure out what’s going on,” Yoongi says, keeping his voice calm and collected. 

Jongin nods and stretches out his hands to the two.

“No, you can’t- you can’t go in there,” Jinki says, struggling to form the entire sentence.

“I can, and I will,” Jongin says, kissing the top of his head. “I’m gonna go get Taemin.”

“Something bad happened to either Taemin or Taehyung, someone has to go in and help them and we’re logical choices. They won’t hurt us intentionally,” Yoongi rationalizes as he takes Jongin’s hand. Hoseok follows his lead and takes Jongin’s other hand.  

“You can’t help,” Ji Young whispers.

Jongin teleports, and the world wraps around them before they’re inside the bubble. Jongin frowns as he looks around.

“Well this is weird,” Jongin says.

Weird is an understatement for their new surroundings. The ground is dry and cracked like the life had been sucked out of it, and the sky above is dark. Lightning cracks across the sky, briefly illuminating the carnage around them before the darkness covers it again.  _ Things _ are crawling around them, not getting close enough to touch, but the feeling of being watched presses down on them.

“Can you find Taemin?” Hoseok asks, pressing closer to Yoongi and summoning a flame to dance between his fingers. The light is small but it gives him a small comfort in the strange surroundings. 

“That’s the thing. I was focusing on Taemin and we still ended up here. Everything here  _ is _ Taemin,” Jongin says.

Yoongi bites his lip, “How about Taehyung?” 

Jongin frowns as he closes his eyes, “I can’t feel him, only Taemin. Maybe it’s this weird dome thing throwing me off.”

Yoongi’s heart sinks because even he knows that’s not the truth but he ignores it. “Okay, let’s start looking for them.”

It’s strange to walk through the darkness because at times it’s like walking underwater and other times they’re floating in the air.

“Why are you here?” the voice comes from all around them, and it takes Jongin a minute to place it.

“Taemin?” Jongin asks. “Babe can you let us see you?”

A shadow condenses and Taemin’s wispy form appears before them. He’s drenched in what looks like blood and there are tear stains down his cheeks.

“Where’s Taehyung?” Yoongi demands.

Taemin’s form flickers, like he was having a hard time staying together and Yoongi’s hand darts out to grab onto his wrist. Surprisingly, he actually makes contact and Taemin seems to solidify more as Yoongi holds on.

“Where. Is. Taehyung.” Yoongi hisses.

“It’s my fault. It’s all my fault. I never should’ve come here,” Taemin says.

He isn’t focusing on them at all, instead he’s staring past them.

“That doesn’t answer the question. Where is Taehyung?” Yoongi says.

“Taehyung is dead.” Taemin says flatly.

Hoseok shakes his head, “N-no. He can’t be.” 

Yoongi lets out a slow breath, closing his eyes briefly before gritting his teeth. There would be time to mourn later. Focusing on Taemin he took the faery’s other wrist in his hand. “He wouldn’t want you to be like this,” he says softly, feeling the sting of tears forming. He blinks them back and tries to make eye contact with Taemin, praying that he’d listen. 

“You shouldn’t have come in here. You could’ve gotten hurt,” Taemin says.

Hoseok rests a hand on top of Yoongi’s unsure if he could even touch Taemin. “Are you okay?” Tears are rolling down Hoseok’s cheeks freely but he looks genuinely concerned for Taemin’s well being. 

“Are you?” Taemin asks.

Hoseok shakes his head, “Doesn’t matter. I’m not the one who trapped himself on the battlefield.” 

“I’m not trapped. You should go,” Taemin says.

Yoongi’s grip tightened, “Not unless you come with us.” 

Taemin’s arm slips out of his grip and the world warps around them before they find themselves staring at the outside of the barrier.

Hoseok crumbles freely out of Taemin’s sight and Yoongi kneels next to him, pulling him into his arms as he sobs. His own tears roll down his cheeks but he knows they can’t leave Taemin alone for long. 

“He’s gonna self-destruct and Taehyung wouldn’t want that. We… we need to do something,” Yoongi says, stroking Hoseok’s back. 

Jongin’s face hardens and he glares at the barrier. “He’s coming out of there.”

Jongin disappears again. This time, going through the barrier feels like he’s trying to force his way through a brick wall. He finds Taemin again, still half solid as he wanders the battlefield. Wings of shadow stretch out behind him and they make Taemin seem more angelic. An angel of death, Jongin amends as he steps over the body of something that was probably human at one point.

“Taemin,” Jongin calls softly.

Taemin turns at the sound of his voice and frowns.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Taemin says.

Jongin pushes his way forward until he’s standing in front of Taemin. He stretches out a hand and makes contact with Taemin’s arm. Taemin slowly solidifies the longer Jongin holds contact. Jongin pulls him into his arms and Taemin buries his face into his neck.

“It hurts Nini,” Taemin whispers. “It’s too quiet.”

“We need to go back Taemin. You have people and faeries you need to take care of, they need you,” Jongin says.

There’s a couple of minutes of hesitation before the barrier around them slowly drops. Sunlight forces its way inside, illuminating the horrors that had been previously hidden by the shadows. Blood soaks nearly every inch of the ground that was inside and bodies of the injured and the dead alike are strewn everywhere.

“Gather the fae, have them go back home. All of the other supernaturals need to go back to the base,” Jongin says.

Taemin takes a shuddering breath before he straightens and looks around at the shell shocked fae. 

“Home. I want everyone home. Now.” Taemin says hoarsely. 

Fae start to disappear as he says this and he turns back to where the rest of the supernaturals are waiting. A portal opens in front of them.

“I will finish what we came here to do,” Taemin says.

 

Yoongi helps Hoseok to his feet, pulling him in the direction of the portal back to base. Hoseok follows blindly, staring into nothingness as Yoongi supports him. “C’mon Hobi. Let’s go back to our room.” 

“He can’t be dead. He can’t be, Yoongi.” Hoseok whispers as they stumble down the hall towards their room. 

“I know. I know.”

They sit on the edge of the bed, lacing their fingers together as they lay back. Finally Yoongi allows himself to crumble, curling into Hoseok’s embrace as he sobs. His chest aches and 

a part of him doesn’t believe that Taehyung is actually gone. Yoongi can see it when he closes his eyes, the iron sword tainted with Taehyung’s blood as it stuck out of his back. His breathing shudders and he curls tighter into Hoseok’s form. The other man strokes his back tears slowing as he holds Yoongi through his own tears. 

“He wasn’t supposed to die,” Yoongi mumbles, “Anyone else. But not him.” 

Hoseok doesn’t have anything to say because it’s the truth. He had prepared himself that he might lose Yoongi during battle. He had prepared that any of the non-fae members of the resistance could die during this battle. He hadn’t thought that  _ Taehyung _ of all the creatures would be the one to die on the battlefield. Even now thinking about it, it seems like an elaborate ruse. Taehyung was practically immortal and yet he had been the one to fall. 

Hoseok nuzzles closer to Yoongi, eyes gritty and sore and he closes them sniffling. Yoongi runs his hands through Hoseok’s hair, closing his eyes and swallowing down the pain. Tomorrow will dawn and he’ll mourn some more, but for now he’s tired.

 

The office of the president starts to darken and President Kim looks up in confusion. The lights flicker and a small breeze starts up. The chair falls to the ground as President Kim jumps to his feet. A figure rises out of the darkness and silver eyes stare at the president. He makes a move to run but is grabbed by shadowy figures and pinned back into the seat.

“Hello President Kim. It’s about time we had a talk.” the figure says. 

A shadow chair forms underneath him and he sinks into it gracefully.

“Who are you?” President Kim demands.

“I am Taemin, King of Nightmares, ruler of the Unseelie and Seelie Courts. And we have business to discuss.”

“What do you mean?”

“The laws against the supernaturals will be lifted and you will be signing into effect a couple documents that I have prepared in order to protect the supernaturals.”

“And what if I don’t?”

Taemin smiles serenely.

“What are you afraid of Mr. Kim?” Taemin asks.

 

The doors to the president’s office opens and the President stumbles out, pale and shaking. The guards immediately rush to his side.

“What happened? Are you okay?” one of the guards asks.

“Paper. I have papers that need to go into effect immediately,” President Kim says.

“Papers? Sir you aren’t making any sense.”

“I’m making perfect sense. I know what I’m doing get me my board now.”

 

Taemin watches from the shadows as the president makes the announcement for the supernaturals. It’s met with some outrage, but mostly people are okay with it. Everyone is tired of fighting, tired of the harsh regulations. As soon as he’s certain that there will be no riots, he slips back into the fae realm between breaths. It’s quiet in the realm, quieter than Taemin can ever remember, but he knows that the fae are all waiting for him to begin the celebration. He finds the crowds gathered around the hall of the high court, waiting for him. 

Hoseok and Yoongi sat at a table to the side as far away from the center of the party as possible. They were still getting used to living in the fae realm and the customs were so different from what they were used to. They knew it was the faery way to celebrate life rather than to mourn death but their ways were different. A party, while fitting Taehyung’s life perfectly, felt odd to the two. Yoongi watched the party with dull eyes, head resting on Hoseok’s shoulder. 

“I miss him.” He whispers, and Hoseok just hums in response, running his fingers through Yoongi’s dark hair. 

He sighs heavily before kissing the top of Yoongi’s head and murmuring, “I miss him too.” 

Taemin pauses beside their table to glance down at them. He opens his mouth like he’s going to say something to them, then thinks better of it and moves further into the room. When he gets to the center, he clears his throat then uses magic to carry his voice throughout the room.

“We gather not to mourn, but to celebrate. My brother did not die in vain, for it has united us with each other and once again balanced the human realm. We miss him dearly, but we all know that it will not bring him back. He has moved on with the Wild Hunt, and we shall celebrate that.” Taemin says. 

The fae cheer and music starts up from multiple bands at once, creating a dizzying blend of sounds. Taemin makes his way through the crowd until he finds Jinki and Jongin sitting together at a table. They look up at him as he approaches and Jongin holds his arms out. Taemin slides into them and Jinki hands him a glass of fae wine. 

“Are you okay?” Jongin asks.

“I will be,” Taemin says. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dark frozen feelings  
> beneath a leaden sky with  
> only my dreams left  
> ((a haiku by B))
> 
> HA WE'RE FINISHEDDDDDDD
> 
> as a bonus, whoever can message us first with all the songs and artists the chapter titles came from will get a small drabble of their choice written by us. find the song lyrics, send them to us, request a fic, the end


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